In My Mind's Eye (2 of 3)

Yesterday, I gave a quarter to a man...
Outside of Walgreen at Vermont and 6th.
And I must say that it was a god-awful mistake,
For instead of a "salamat," the man got so
"Mad as hell," (he said so himself), "at you
People for not getting it," that I had to make
A run for my life, as he threw
The coin at me--screaming and cursing in
A "zillion-plus" unprintables "telling" me that
What he really needed was a "bill," not
(To use his own words), a "stupid coin."
Where I was born, I knew no one like that man.
So, to know that there are more of them than
All of us--the entire population of my old hometown
Is not just a god-awful shame, but also criminal.
Yes, criminal, it is--in my mind's eye.