Under the soft blows you begin to purl
Like rainwater murmuring over rock
The pain loosens you but stiffens your cock.
The shock of harder slaps with the cat hurls
Your sensibilities to overdrive.
You start screaming, and I get high. I love
To hear that, love the well-tuned beauty of
Tears silvering your face, chorus of sighs
As you try to hide your glad misery.
I probably should get a ball gag for
You. The neighbors might hear. The man next door
Gave me a strange look in the laundry
Room the other day. Maybe he's jealous,
Or wants to play and is too shy to tell us.
One day you bought a sleek cat-o-nine-
Tails for me, shyly presented it, said
A cop scene, you beating me with a lead
Pipe, was my first idea, but this is fine
By me, this cat is so heavy, a thud
With this will make that satisfying whump
In my chest. That's what I want. I was stumped
For the right tool, not wanting to draw blood
But wanting a dense, intense pain and not
A stinging, surface one. Tell me you're pleased!
Yes, I was, honey. How could I not be?
You'll get both, eventually: deep pain, cop
Scene. Billy club, rubber uniform, black
Boots for you to lick while I scourge your back.
I loved taking pictures in that dungeon
Didn't you, babe? I'm afraid of pictures
Generally, I don't like the strictures
Of shadow and light, how airbrush, sponged in-
to the mix, makes models of underfed
schoolgirls. But that well-appointed play place
Had shackles, whips, and chains-even a cage!
You looked great in the cage, my little pet.
You looked like a tamed, still-dangerous cat.
If I had my way, you'd be caged all day
I'd let you out for meals, maybe, or to play.
I like the photo of you kneeling at
My feet, lips poised to humbly kiss my ass.
Such acts of worship fade, but pictures last.
Magdalena Alagna is a freelance writer and editor living and working in NYC. I am also an associate editor at Long Shot magazine. Some of my work has appeared in Prometheus, Clean Sheets, Paterson Literary Review, Ever-Dancing Muse, Home Planet News, and Bitter Oleander, to name a few.