And Then…
I remember that night we met, Ken. Sophomore year.
I remember we French-kissed on Lina’s twin bed.
I remember your friend Tom snapped, “He isn’t queer.”
I remember him making that perfectly clear.
I remember the violence in how it was said.
I remember that night we met, Ken. Sophomore year.
I remember you played straight in life and career.
I remember the day you and Lina were wed.
I remember she furtively asked, “Is he queer?”
I remember I told her what she ached to hear.
I remember the marriage vows filled me with dread.
I remember that night we met, Ken. Sophomore year.
I remember your torn jeans, your protruding ears.
I remember you smoked pot and Marlboro red.
I remember you insisting “Dude, I’m not queer.”
I remember we hooked up each time that you fled.
I remember we French-kissed, your tongue loose from beer.
I remember how much our trysts messed with my head.
I remember those nights and of course, sophomore year.
One More Time
How could I cheat on a man like that
Please don’t say because I have done it before
I know I’m a liar. I know I’m a rat.
Plus it’s not like we’ve recently had a spat
Or I’m back to my days of yore as a whore.
So how could I cheat on a man like that,
You ask, adding that man’s a pussycat,
Forgetting the tiger’s claws. What’s more
Maybe he’s the liar; maybe he’s the rat.
Maybe he needs to go to the laundromat
To clean up his act. That’s what washers are for!
What man hasn’t cheated like me, like that
Like a wolf who’s natural habitat
Is deceit. Like you for instance. I know the score.
I know you’re a liar. I know you’re a rat.
You’re stirring up shit in your homemade vat,
Proclaiming my guilt based on heretofore.
So since I’m not the liar and he’s not the rat
Who’s the real cheat here? Come. Answer me that.
Drew Pisarra is the author of You’re Pretty Gay (2021) and Publick Spanking, two collections of short stories, and Infinity Standing Up (2019) and Periodic Boyfriends (2023), two collections of homoerotic sonnets. Additionally, he was a participating poet at A Gathering of the Tribes two-day reading at The Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet As It’s Kept.
Grand Little Things 