Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Typo

now
I know it's heresy in
some parts but
I'm not an Elton John
fanatic
but that's what we listened to
the night we met
our best night
and your name is Daniel
funnily enough
and you are older than me

lying on a green carpet
that was even then
decades
out of vogue
a matted flattened collection of stains
at the tail end
of a silly party
aborted for
a lack of alcohol
yawns
and departures
and settled-for pairings
gropings
peeled our friends away
and we talked
we listened
we told our lives
spilled it freely
shared it messily

I think I was too tired
to polish
or puff up
or pose
and my guard was low enough
to abandon the false boldness
of the newly out boy
not just company

but communication
and not just communication
but communion

now
I know it's strange to
some folks but
I'm not a blond fanatic
you had a boyfriend anyways
but he was not in attendance
and cute you were
cute that yellow hair was
like a kid's wiffle cut
with a dash of punk
and I was very happy
just to be there
in the free mess

after that night
our deck of Queens shuffled itself
and we danced
and hung
and threw shade
in one another's periphery
for week after week
sufficiently distracted
as gay boys are
you by your fella
me by a long chain of changing pheromones
attentions deflected enough
to prevent a questioning thought
or stolen glance

some months later
by pure chance
and an odd quirk of nightclub clique pecking order
you cheerfully drove me home
and we chatted again
I think you took the long way
I'd forgotten you said
as I creaked the car door open
Forgotten what? I puzzled
That you were so nice
with a smile daring
nearly desperate in its openness
and a watery glimmer

a liquid twinkle
standing in your blue eyes and coating your voice
and I was still young enough
to be old fashioned
still green enough
for hesitation
too callow
to appreciate the rarity of such
forthright interest
and up to my little apartment I ran

I just wanted you to know
how often I think of never

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