day TWELVE HUNDRED and SIXTY THREE

My Pledge of Loyalty

I love you in spite of your bloodied hands.
I love you in spite of your bloat and pomp.
I love you when you come back to haunt me.

I love your lying mouth.
I love your sharp fingers
that poke through the bars
of the cage you keep me in.

I love you when your whip is long.
I love you when your whip is short.
I love you when the whip has razors in it.

I love you when you brutalize
them, not me.
If this means what I think it means
I love it.

I love the way you equal opportunity hate.
I even love you when you hate on me,
it feels so much
like love.

I want you
to keep loving me
without your mask,
just your emotionless face
staring, uncaring
the way all good despots
love their people.


--Mickey Corrigan

Originally from Boston, Mickey J. Corrigan writes Florida noir with a dark humor. Novels include Project XX about a school shooting (Salt Publishing, UK, 2017) and What I Did for Love, a spoof of Lolita (Bloodhound Books, 2019). Kelsay Books recently published the poetry chapbook the disappearing self. Poems have appeared in many literary journals, online and in print.