The Soap Queen Poem by Nancy Ames

(This is a caricature poem and is first-person fiction)

'I impersonate myself
in another place and time
while I sit here on the shelf
for my old, unconscious crime.

Assessing T.V. damage,
you have to play a role -
it's a novel form of language
but it sure does take its toll.

The sadness of what might have been,
the ignorance of youth,
but he didn't have to be so mean
and a liar spoils the truth.

Somewhere there's a lab-rat
who laughs at all his jokes -
it can't run because it got too fat
but it will eat until it chokes.

I know I can be quite intense
and my motivation's murky,
but let me say in my defence
that I like my beef quite jerky.'