Guesses About Tesses

When I was a kid I lived on a block
With two spotted dogs named Tess
And across the street from them was a
Skinny black lady with a nose ring also named Tess,
And I called them all The Tesses.

I tried to work out sentences
Where lumping them together
Made weird sense
As if I was humping them until I turned blue,
Though it was insensible and ultimately hard to do.

What are Tesses, someone asked me
In a later life. Termites in dresses?
Makes sense to me,
Though I’m shit-faced, sullen, and demented!

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