Amplified

(ending with a line by Janis Joplin)

You know me, I’ve never been one 

to just stand, I am your

co-conspirator, your willing slave 

greedy for your voice, I’ve been 

in the thick of it, shaken

rattled, rolled, your cigarettes 

snuffed on my face, I’ve been stuffed 

down your pants, swung in frantic circles 

over screaming crowds, soaked in sweat and beer 

dangled from the stage while you stomped 

triumphantly out of the light, my abandoned cord 

splayed out on the stage like an 

exhausted EKG, a topographic 

map for your wild night  

faithfully, again, I am 

    here before you, ready 

        to be used, spit on

    

show me your teeth and slap me

against your thigh, tell me 

I’m ugly, I’m ready to swallow 

    screams for dinner 

I’m thirstier than your punctured vein, fill me up 

    come on, come on, 

        come on and take me 

pull me up to your mouth and break 

another piece of my heart now, baby

_______________________________

Weekly Scribblings #33: “swallow screams for dinner”