By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 7 May 1998

Incubator

    foolish girl
    raised on Seventeen magazine
      and VH-1

    sex is fun
     give it freely
       and be blessed

    no rest
    for the merry
   all of life
      prayer and preparation
    for the popping 
      of the cherry

 I stand scarred
   bleeding
  who to blame
    no one
 angst is a rite
    of passage
 we learn from our mistakes
   (spoken in Stepford robotic rote)

   wedding cakes
   have lost their flavor
   Brad Pitt is not a savior
    society can burn me
      at the stake
 how many kisses
      does it take

I'm supposed to be sorry
  for the love I gave
because I gave it
  to cheap males
who gave me 
  nothing in return
  but humiliation
  and a deep burn
 buried inside what the doctor
   at the free clinic
 called an incubator

 I'm a living, breathing
      incubator
 I'm here to hatch eggs
   that is why I shave my
        legs
 and cure the itch
     with Vagisil