Dinah’s Back in Town

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)