Roxanne

March 20, 2020

Objection to all the distractions
Emails go unanswered 
And Roxanne is upset. 
Oh Roxanne

There are lots of good Roxanne 
Songs but did she ask for any 
Of them? Imagine The Police 
Writing sessions and wonder 

If she had any say. Roxanne 
Has a tattoo behind her ear 
And fancies herself 
A real writer

Who teaches for pay. 
Teach me sentence structure
Roxanne, read me your 
Thesis. 

Go for a walk now, 
Roxanne fancies herself 
A real adult and hates to be 
Saddled with chores in the 

Family home, though she’ll
Never leave it and becomes 
More and more her mother with 
Each passing day. 

The house is in a state of 
Decay. What a lovely inheritance, 
To enjoy the filth rather than say 
A month traveling

Or a college fund, 
For one of the kids at least, 
There’s three of them. 
Roxanne is bitter. 

Three and that’s all there is 
To it. She used to like going 
On long walks on the boardwalk,
No time for such salty luxury now, 

Two different dads! 
And a third sleeps next to her now.
She tries to write about it
In her head in the shower 

But sitting down to write with intention 
Never goes well and there’s the kid’s 
Lunches to make and all. 
Roxanne is oh so bitter. 

Roxanne used to shave everywhere 
And wore lots of tight-fitting black 
Clothes. She used to wear big, black sunglasses 
Too, on the days her eyes were puffy 

From his knuckles. 
The guy now is nice to her though, 
She lets him tie her up and she closes 
Her eyes and thinks about how to best 

Describe the feeling of being pummeled 
When she sits down to write about it later, 
She’ll be real sore though, and there’s 
The kid’s homework and all. 

One of the kids is smart and 
Likes to write stories and Roxanne 
Tries to get him to do more math because 
She knows writing will keep him in the house forever 

And Roxanne wants to be alone in the 
House because then she’ll be able to 
Write herself to death without all the emails coming in. 
Her memoir will be self-titled. 

• ← 5
• 7 →