The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping

Grace Nichols

Shopping in London winter
is a real drag for the fat black woman
going from store to?store
in?search of accommodating?clothes
and de weather so cold

Look at?the frozen thin mannequins
fixing her with grin
and de pretty face salesgals
exchanging slimming glances
thinking she don’t notice

Lord is aggravating

Nothing soft and bright and billowing
to flow like breezy sunlight
when she walking

The fat black woman curses in Swahili/Yoruba
and nation language under her breathing
all this journeying and journeying

The fat black woman could only conclude
that when it come to fashion
the choice is lean

Nothing much beyond size 14





Last updated October 27, 2022