Slope Love
We go to the vestibule of a random brownstone. Pull down
each other’s pants. This is how we get it on. We have nowhere
else to go. I wear my uniform skirt with thigh highs underneath.
He once told me only white people brush their teeth after breakfast
instead of before. His mom told him that.
She carries the groceries home wearing heels
and pants that hug her shapely ass. She cooks for him,
puts ketchup on his eggs. His dad goes to the games
at St. Saviors talking too loud and stumbling.
I don’t mind fucking in vestibules as long as we don’t get caught.
Except I always cry when we’re done. Did I mention, I cry a lot.
One snowy night at the Dirty Donut a little old lady
with penciled eyebrows burst through the door and said,
Bah, snow! She had a beat up old coat, a plastic bonnet pulled tight
around her head. I loved that little old lady.
He liked her too. Sometimes he’ll look at me and say,
Bah, snow! It always makes me laugh. He says it to stop me
from crying but it sometimes it doesn’t work.
Did I tell you, he listens to Hardcore and draws
really well. I once stole a sketch he did of his living room
right off of the display in school. He’s the first person
to love me. It’s cold.
(appears in Girl Life, 2016).