Sprinting across the I-30
in the dead of night
the leggy legend
with infectious charm
turned trauma into triumph,
swapped bloodied and beaten
for surviving and thriving
in an act of self-preservation.
She dared to be the needle
that pricked the heady
Love Team balloon,
indestructible Tina
in leather and denim
scrubbed toilets
scaled the Eiffel Tower in heels
unearthed her pain
instead of maintaining
her 16-year limelight lie,
transforming thirty-six cents
and inconceivable drive
into the Queen of Rock,
self-love, that second-hand emotion
had everything to do with it,
Buddha offered nirvana.
When the shine was off the penny
she was at peace slowing down,
asking her devoted public
not to disturb her before noon.
Elaine Sorrentino has been published in Minerva Rising, Willawaw Journal, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Ekphrastic Review, Writing in a Women’s Voice, Global Poemic, ONE ART: a journal of poetry, Agape Review, Haiku Universe, Sparks of Calliope, Muddy River Poetry Review, Your Daily Poem, Panoplyzine, Etched Onyx Magazine, and at wildamorris.blogspot.com. She was featured on a poetry podcast at Onyx Publications.