Queens Remix
Up above my head, there’s music in the air.
This isn’t our parade,
nobody knows when you’re down and out.
Don’t let me be misunderstood.
They say I’m different,
down with the clique,
otherside of the game.
Heaven help me,
keep it between us.
When it hurts so bad
don’t make me wait too long.
I don’t want to.
What have you done for me lately,
Silly Sam?
Keep it movin’.
It’s my house.
That’s the trouble:
day dreaming,
caught up in the rapture,
slave to the rhythm
Is it a crime?
Slowly, surely,
sun will shine again
Don’t make it harder on me.
We need a resolution,
like you’ll never see me again.
Where do broken hearts go?
Same ol’ mistakes,
all things go.
Note: This poem is a cento of song titles of every artist named in the Queens Remix of Beyonce’s Break My Soul. In order, they are: Rosetta Sharpe, Santigold, Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, Betty Davis, Solange Knowles, Erykah Badu, Lizzo, Kelly Rowland, Lauryn Hill, Roberta Flack, Toni Braxton, Janet Jackson, Tierra Whack, Missy Elliott, Diana Ross, Grace Jones, Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, Grace Jones, Sade, Jill Scott, Michelle Williams, Chloe X Halle, Aaliyah, Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston, Rihanna, and Nicki Minaj
Alex Carrigan (he/him) is a Pushcart-nominated editor, poet, and critic from Alexandria, VA. He is the author of Now Let’s Get Brunch: A Collection of RuPaul’s Drag Race Twitter Poetry (Querencia Press, 2023) and May All Our Pain Be Champagne: A Collection of Real Housewives Twitter Poetry (Alien Buddha Press, 2022). He has appeared in The Broadkill Review, Sage Cigarettes, Barrelhouse, Fifth Wheel Press, Cutbow Quarterly, and more. Visit carriganak.wordpress.com or follow him on Twitter @carriganak for more info.