As I prepared for tonight’s poetry reading, I thought I’d try to organize my thoughts at a downtown cafe.

One woman tells a guy: “Yeah, when I used to do illegal drugs I used to really look down on people who didn’t. That was so immature–don’t you know. Now I’m into herbal teas.”

One woman says to second woman: “I am like so not into teaching any more. I used to be like into the teaching thing but I’ve beyond that now. You know what I’m saying?”

A man at a table behind me throws a newspaper on a table and says: “I wish someone would just kill [name withheld].”

I withheld the name from the last quote because the person is an elected government official and I’m not sure if the man in the cafe was simply expressing an opinion or an intent. After hearing the man’s comment I was shaken by the violence of it and could not concentrate on my goal of preparing for tonight’s reading. So I left.