"Why I'm Not a Bitch" [by Nin Andrews]

Why I’m Not a Bitch
       After Frank O’Hara

I’m not a bitch. I’m a poet.
Why?  I don't know.
I think I’d rather be a bitch,
to tell you the truth.

Like Nicole.  She’s just bitching.
Sometimes I stop in, and she says to me,
Come on in, bitch. Let’s bitch.
I do.  We do.
We both bitch.
We bitch and bitch.
Bitching has never been
as good as this.
You should see us bitch.
Then Nicole says
she’s writing a bitching poem.
And she is.  So I read it. Damn, I say.
This is bitching. 

But you have Whitman in here,
I say.
What’s Whitman doing here?
Yes, she says.
I needed someone.
Like Whitman.
Oh, I say.
And I go out.

A few days pass.
Then she sends me her poem.
Where’s Whitman?  I ask.
All that's left of Whitman
are the words hit and man.
He was too much, Nicole says.
Or not enough for this bitch.

A few weeks later,
she publishes the poem.
It’s called Whitman’s Bitch.

-- Nin Andrews