She was a singer waiting tables in a small town Picking cheques, checking on her Bandcamp That’s where he heard her singing country She had some talent, but it’s not like she was Emmylou He sent her message for six weeks From an account he made called ‘Starlight Management’ She only took her guitar Last seen entering a blacktop sports car He’ll have a small town girl tonight Somewhere out in the cornfields, Lord, is there a small town girl, somewhere, who can take this man and put him to the sword? She was a dancer at the bar by the refinery Night shifts, posting pole dance Tiktoks He sent her three fire emojis His profile pic said ‘actor, NYC’ She made plans and took a Greyhound the CCTV shows her changing at Chicago She told her friends that he was Big League ‘He’s been to parties at Mar-a-Lago’ In the woods, the bones tell of the route he’s driven down from girl to girl to girl from small town to small town so can I get a Knife Sister?

Track stars setting down to run bent down for the sound of the starting gun no runner in the second lane coach asks why Mary aint come to train but mary aint got a friend to answer he always picks a girl that needs a dancer you can be strong, you can run don’t matter, it’s the lonely ones aint a chase, aint a fight it’s a dance with the devil in the pale moonlight mary’s found two towns along race run, face down in a field of birdsong police find her phone some text from a burner: M, r u alone and mary said ‘always’ as an answer he always picks himself a solo dancer coach gets a new sprinter in that year track team wins everything mary never got to celebrate never got to be somebody that wins state and this’ll be the story for ever after always another girl to be the dancer

I know, I know like Tony Soprano friends will let you down by family never lets go bloody your teeth bite your cheek haven’t killed a fuckin thing in a week i know, i know for every predator there is an arnold shwarzenegger and the devil in me’s going haha and the killer in me’s going gaga i am an abcess in the hell mouth i am the blackest bile it spits out I’m i know i know just like on the tv there’s a good honest cop coming after coming after me i know i know from all the movies the net falls down eventually my blood is acid i am the killer but i’m still scared of sigourney weaver

I was on the night shift when his rental Ford pulled up for half a tank and peanuts and i saw her in his car the night she went missing sheriff said ‘Madison, couldn’t be, wasn’t him’ CCTV didn’t show anyone but i know he had a rental ford from out of state, yeah I went back through the cameras, got his license place, yeah I took off for a few days and I found the rental firm he’d got the blue sedan from and of course he gave a fake name but i knew he’d come back soon enough got a job taking calls at don’s cars CCTV didn’t show anyone but I know he had a rental ford from out of state so all I gotta do is work and wait, yeah three weeks in don’s hands are wandering and he wanders in and now I’m wondering if the cops don’t care, and I can’t wait, yeah I wanna serve him up I’ll be the small town bait, yeah and I’ll catch him and I’ll catch him

done and dusted like the corn stand in this Nebraska dawn you’re a banshee coming out of the night bloody red and wailing like the sirens they’re all around every sheriff from every small town witnesses of your rebirth reach down and grab a fist of earth fling it at the red blue flashes ashes commended unto ashes sixteen girls who might have lived the infinite who you do because of what you did, what you did they will talk about what you did and you will go to prison for this but Madison, you are the Justice Madison, you are the Justice WELCOME to the Knife Sisterhood baptised in blood Beneath this midnight hood WELCOME to the Knife Sisterhood Come take communion Fingerlicking good he begs you with the corn all whispering around you like an audience waiting baited breath all crowded round yellow faces looking down as something on its dark black wing flies out of you and into him and makes your heart into its nest and calls for blood cos blood is best and after when he is still, you’re breathing hard alive with how you feel, how you feel at the moment of that kill and some will call it self defence but a dark bird’s flown into your chest and now it’s there you’ve come to need it, Madison, you have to feed it They send you letters inside your cell Girl after girl after girl They say you made a better world They’re glad you sent that fuck to hell And the public are all sympathetic And the parole board all are easy targets All you do is look contrite mention Jesus Seek forgiveness And you behave and do it well And the warden calls you a good girl And you’ll be out for five to six With a glowing report from the therapist But they don’t know the taste for killing Is a taste you like A taste you’ve hidden And madison you badly hunger When they release you You’ll be the hunter