Confessions of a Professional Submissive

My ass has been spanked
by so many hands—
some thick and calloused
others smooth and tender
masculine and feminine
in ways that don’t always 
conform to their owner’s
gender.

Blindfold me, and I’d like to 
say I could identify each touch—
Like to think I would flinch
at a slap from a hand that had
grabbed my pussy, uninvited,
and pinched. Like to think I would 
soften at a spanking from a palm 
that had rubbed my back, soothed
my fears. Fingers that brushed a stray 
hair from my face, dried a tear.

But the truth is:

Despite all I’ve experienced 
in this strange profession of 
mine—despite all the kind 
and cruel clients, all the
women I’ve worked beside and
loved in different ways, different
times—

Despite all this, one certainty 
I’ve learned:

A slap is a slap. The impact of 
hard hand against malleable skin 
will have its desired effect 
upon one who was born 
to give in.

Rip the blindfold off; I will
keep my eyes closed, gaze down,
head hung. That old song—hurt-
me-love-me-hurt-me-love-me—
sounds the same no matter in
what key it’s sung. 




____

Stephanie Parent is a writer and editor whose poems have been nominated for a Rhysling Award and Best of the Net. She also worked for six years as a professional submissive and switch at a commercial dungeon in Los Angeles.