TONIGHT AT LAST CALL, J. CALLS ME HIS BROWN LIQUOR GIRL AGAIN,
his voice dark urgency, like when we were attached.
I let him grip my hips, slow dance me back to that lust,
to the parking lot, his car,
my tube top a trophy in one hand,
a bottle of Southern Comfort in his other.
He pours that sweet Joplin down my throat,
guides my hand between his legs.
Drives
to the Malibu motel with ocean views,
vibrating beds, and once more, our delicious thrashing,
complimentary KY where the Gideon should be,
the insomniac waves rocking us long before my marriage,
and now after.
When I ask him which part of me he loves best,
J. answers: What’s missing,
tonguing the place where my nipple had been.
He doesn’t mind the mastectomy scar,
the one my husband can’t bring himself to touch.
—from Rattle #63, Spring 2019
Tribute to Persona Poems
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Alexis Rhone Fancher: “Before I was a writer, I was a professionally trained actor, and when I write persona poems I use many of the same Stanislavski techniques I employed to ‘get into character.’ The Method helps me slip inside someone’s head and see life from their point of view. I attempted to write this poem about the Brown Liquor Girl and her lover many times, but only when I switched from my perspective to hers did the poem finally come together.” (web)
