Prince Called Me Up Onstage at the Pontiac Silverdome, by Khadijah Queen

Prince called me up onstage at the Pontiac Silverdome & my scary ass didn't go up there my sisters waited in line for hours so we could get good tickets & we lucked up on the 8th row & used the light bill money to pay for it I mean who needs lights when you got Prince & the day before the concert I bought a supertight electric blue column dress from Charlotte Russe at the Livonia Mall it had a back-of-the-knee-high slit I was 21 & we all screamed when The Beautiful Ones started up I think I even began to cry even though he didn't play any of the old hits straight but because everything was spectacular I didn't sit in my seat the whole time & was losing my voice & then a burly guy with one of those headsets motioned that I should go with him & come on stage & WHAT I froze I mean WHAT I knew that dress did not make me look shy but I thought if I went up there I would faint & I'm not the best dancer I thought I 'd probably cry like an idiot & then pass out & wake up & pass out again so I said no & shook my head no my heart beating fast & sweating my dress into a darker blue

Khadijah Queen is the author of five books of innovative poetry, including the forthcoming I'm So Fine: A List of Famous Men & What I Had On (YesYes Books 2017). Individual poems appear in Tin House, jubilat, Best American Nonrequired Reading and many other journals and anthologies. She works full-time as an editor for a finance company and is core faculty for the new low-residency Mile-High MFA program at Regis University.