She Beethovens Me! Poem by Dónall Dempsey

Complain of pain
to my Chinese friend.

Trying to impress her
with my meagre knowledge
of Chinese

I tell her
that I have TÒNG!
(PAIN!)

here…here…here
&...here!

She listens to me
TÒNGing!


& sings it back to me
in Beethoven’s 5th Symphony

TÒNG! TÒNG! TÒNG! TÒNG!
TÒNG! TÒNG! TÒNG! TÒNG!

She pings my nipple with each note
turning all my TÒNG! into song.

Pain
disappears

in tickles
& tears

of laughter.