the television tells me
that he was born to quell me
to be the first to teach me
I have value

so I pick him out at recess
and he treats me like an abscess
and I never know what
I said wrong

I want a man to save me
I want to save a man
I want to be as simple as the television’s plan

four years ago, we got rights
but something is still not right
I spent twenty years desperate for the hollow of a man

once he was a small thing
but he grew a liquor liver
and then turned his body blockade

I wanted to turn him soft
and let him break me as a thank you
I am lucky we were both too afraid

I want a man to save me
I want to save a man
I want to be as simple as the television’s plan

four years ago, we got rights
but something is still not right
I spent twenty years desperate for the hollow of a man

I am best at longing for that which
never happened, paint illusions
give myself the creeps

men don’t let themselves love me
not cuz they are above me, they’re just scared
I’ll brush their hair and kiss their cheeks

I dreamt you up, my love
climbed inside your laugh, forgot how to breathe
maybe it’s foolish, my love
to believe we’d get out unscathed

trusted your hands, my love
to bloom into fields, at the sight of new life
wept when you snapped, my love
never a word more hated than wife

I want a man to save me
I want to save a man
I want to be as simple as the television’s plan

four years ago, we got rights
but something is still not right
I spent twenty years desperate for the hollow of a man