88 Lines About 44 Women

Deborah was a Catholic girl She held out to the bitter end Carla was a different type She's the one who put it in Mary was a black girl And I was afraid of a girl like that Susan painted pictures Sitting down like the Buddha sat Reno was a nameless girl A geographic memory Cathy was a Jesus freak She liked that kind of misery Vicki had this special way Of turning sex into a song Kamala who couldn't sing Kept the beat and kept it strong Zilla was an archetype, The voodoo queen the queen of wrath Joan thought men were second best To masturbating in the bath Sherri was a feminist She really had that gift of gab Kathleen's point of view was this Take whatever you can grab Seattle was another girl Who left her mark upon the map Karen liked to tie me up And left me hanging by a strap Jeannie had this nightclub walk That made grown men feel underage Mariella who had a son Said I must go but finally stayed Gloria the last taboo Was shattered by her tongue one night Mimi brought the taboo back And held it up before the light Marilyn who knew no shame Was never ever satisfied Julie came and went so fast She didn't even say good-by Well Rhonda had a house in Venice Lived on brown rice and cocaine Patty had a house in Houston Shot cough syrup in her veins Linda thought her life was empty Filled it up with alcohol Katherine was much too pretty She didn't do that shit at all Uh-uh. Not Katherine. Pauline thought that love was simple Turn it on and turn it off Jean-Marie was complicated Like some French film-maker's plot Gina was the perfect lady Always kept her stockings straight Jackie was a rich punk-rocker Silver spoon and a paper plate Sarah was a modern dancer Lean pristine transparency Janet wrote bad poetry In a crazy kind of urgency Tanya Turkish liked to fuck While wearing leather biker boots Brenda's strange obsession Was for certain vegetables and fruit Rowena was an artist's daughter The deeper image shook her up Dee Dee's mother left her father Took his money and his truck Debbie Rae had no such problems Perfect Norman Rockwell home Nina, 16, had a baby Left her parents, lived alone Bobbi joined a New Wave band Changed her name to Bobbi Sox Eloise, who played guitar, Sang songs about whales and cops Terri didn't give a shit Was just a nihilist Ronnie was much more my style Cause she wrote songs just like this Jezebel went forty days Drinking nothing but Perrier Dinah drove her Chevrolet Into the San Francisco Bay Judy came from Ohio She's a Scientologist Amaranta, here's a kiss I chose you to end this list Eighty-eight lines about forty-four women.