SO GAY
How gay is it
for two men
to stroke
the same dog
at the same time.
What if they’re both
sitting on a sofa watching
When Harry Met Sally.
How about two men watching
the same gorgeous sunset
from the same high ridge.
And if a man daydreaming
on a bus ride finds his eyes when focus returns,
quite accidentally, on the crotch
of the man seated opposite.
How about two men riding
a bus into a gorgeous sunset
or two gorgeous men watching
a sunset in silence. How about
two men daydreaming and stroking
a gorgeous dog and the dog makes
a strange deep sound of pleasure.
What if the men are old friends.
What if they’re brothers.
What if there’s music playing.
—from Rattle #35, Summer 2011
__________
Christopher Crawford: “How gay is it to write poems? I like to make people uncomfortable with my poetry; I like to make myself uncomfortable. I like to use the truth to provoke, to handle strong themes in a contemporary manner. Once the opening stanza entered my mind from wherever these things come from, the rest of the poem came without too much trouble. I pinned ‘So Gay’ to the bathroom wall of my old apartment in Ho Chi Minh City in July 2010, perhaps it’s still there.” (web)
