By Misti
Date: 2002 Jun 25
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[[2002.06.25.08.47.21658]]

Ten (if you're counting)

One more special message to go
And then I'm done then I can go home
I love myself better than you
I know it's wrong so what should I do?

~Kurt Cobain

yesterday I took a break from cleaning
laid down on the bed
listened to the classic rock station
wondering if any of my past
lovers/crushes
think of me
and I added all my sex partners
up in my head
nine and then
my husband makes ten
I remembered that I wasn't even
attracted to number nine
I got up from his bed
got online and found a birthday e-card
from the guy I was gone
over the rainbow/over the moon for
I was so rude
but he wanted to see me again
ten sex partners
ten of cups
overflowing

and yesterday I studied
my neatly organized closet
looked at my black strap heels
and thought of putting them in a poem
so everyone would know how hard
I try to be sexy
...in Vegas I'll wear my black strap heels
with my sexy red dress
black kohl under my lower lashes
liquid black lining my eyelids
and some kind of heady cologne
even thought it makes me sneeze
maybe I'll stand innocently
at a craps table
and get abducted by Ben Affleck
or maybe a bored millionaire Wall Street player
will burn holes right through me
with his eyes
from his vantage point
at a hundred dollar a hand
poker game table
my husband will just complain
'cause it took me too long to get ready
he's not Holden
saying it doesn't matter if a girl is late
if she looks good

this morning I dreamed some
great dreams, for a change
everyone adored me
even the guy who stood up in the
class I was teaching and told me
that the other day in traffic
I looked at him from my car
said,"motherfucker"
and made a gun with my fingers
and brought it to my lips
I admitted that was wrong of me
I didn't apologize
I just told him that driving
in heavy traffic makes me nervous
I tell every other driver
to fuck off
and point a pretend gun at them
so he shouldn't take it personally

in the same dream I berated another guy
he was actually the actor
who played the goofy freak in love
with Mark Wahlberg in "Boogie Nights"
and the disenchanted rich guy
in "The Talented Mr. Ripley"
in the dream this actor guy
(I think his name is Phillip)
was playing with this electronic
guitar thing that wasn't actually
a guitar
he pushed a button and
"Stairway to Heaven" began to play
I ranted and raved about that
told him that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant
were geniuses and he was an impostor
I made my case and he realized
the error of his ways

later on in the dream
I was in my grandparents' front yard
and my high school and way beyond crush/friend
drove up on a motorcycle...
He got off the bike and beamed at me
and gave me a bear hug
"You brought me a surprise," I cooed
(he had a huge boner)
and he was crazy about me
all of a sudden
and I was happy about that
because I had been crazy about him
for ten lonely years

I'm no psychiatrist or psychologist
or New Age guru or mystic
but I think all of this points to one
important thing:
I am learning to love myself 110%
with all my flaws
with my freakiness
with my square peg in a round hole
anxiety
and yes, with my pulpy heart sickness
through thin and thickness I am witness
to this awesome transformation
a goddess despite of a lot of ugliness
a resolute hostess
of a party
of one.