The following can also be found in the book Chicago Stories 1998. Click here to learn more, and to download a free electronic copy.

Mosquitoes buzzed my head tonight
snapping their shrill beaks in my ears
and every time one would land
to steal from me
to take the blood I'll never get back
suck
and fly away
you would gouge your pink frail fingernail
into my flesh
and again
and again
leave an asterisk of indented skin
a tattoo of your own creation
that wears away in a few minutes
"This will hurt"
you said
each and every time
you did it
"This will hurt"
"This will hurt"
"This will hurt"

When I took you to the hospital
you bit me
on the neck
right here
on the neck
my pants grew a face
which laughed at me
Shoes did a little tap dance of their own
volition
And now I have a purple flower
to remind me that you're real
that you exist

You said the book was better than the movie
I've never read the book so have to take your word for it

Earlier tonight
well, not early early
before the hospital
after the prom
before the drums
but after the wine
a bloodsucker landed on your hand
started to suck
I saw it
you didn't
and I hit you
left a smear of blood across your skin
"I'm sorry"
I said
"It was biting you"
I said

and after the prom
before the hospital
before the beer
but after the wine
you gave me a canker sore
but I don't really believe it
but you insist that it's true

When I took you to the hospital
you asked me to
lie down with you
naked
for a half-hour
We laughed about fingernails
but you used them anyway
We laughed about teeth
but you bit me anyway

I headbutted you
but it was an accident
We couldn't see each other
all I could do
was feel your trembling naked body
hop up to mount me
and jump off
and hop up
and jump off

I kicked your boyfriend
in the testicles
as hard as I could
in the hospital
but he didn't feel it
because his balls are numb

You know this
and that's why you went to the prom with me
why you hit and bit and gouged me
Why you danced to the drums
under the watchful eye
of the Missouri river
why you fucked me in a hospital cot
keeping absolutely silent
so as not to wake the doctors

You get released
in three weeks
which is when we'll see each other again

And I wonder

what
acts of violence
will you
reward
me
with
this
time