Dinah’s Back in Town
By Jayne Cortez
I wanna be bitchy
I said I wanna be a bitch
cause when you nice
true love don’t come
into your life
You get mistreated
Mistreated & abused
by a no good man
who don’t care nothing
’bout no blues
Throw a kiss to a
lonely bitch
crying on your
back porch
gambling man
Money man
don’t you wanna
take a chance
with the blues
Well if you find
a dreamer
Let him know
about the schemer
just tell him
Dinah’s back in town
I’ll put on my pretty face
just in case he decides to drop
around
You tell him
you know a bitch
who only does
what a good man
wants her to
Tell him
Say
she put
her helpless case
of the blues
out on the Street of Regret
buried in this
Bitter Earth
and now
she’s not bothered, confused
and all tied up with
Mr. Blues
Tell him
Miss Dinah’s back in town
and she’s waiting
just for you
Notes:
This essay is part of the portfolio “Jayne Cortez: I Imitate No One.” You can read the rest of the portfolio in the November 2024 issue.
“Dinah’s Back in Town” is excerpted from Firespitter: The Collected Poems of Jayne Cortez (Nightboat Books, 2025) and was originally published in Pissstained Stairs and the Monkey Man’s Wares (1969). We are grateful to Nightboat Books for their assistance in compiling this folio, and to the estate of Jayne Cortez for their permission in reprinting this poems.
Source: Poetry (November 2024)