Boston Gordon
Memorial BBQ
you count on boy
who leaves tooth marks
on tall cans of beer
your friends spend the night
jumping off the roof
to see who can live longest
cigarettes whistling
behind your diving body
like impromptu firecrackers
by morning you’ve forgotten
how to read
how to spit in public
you laugh
order grease trap
take out
you read sappy poems
to good friends
collect old band-aids
you climb scaffolding
tag windows with
cartoon birds
wheat-paste over
your own desire
run back to find tooth
marks wait at the bar
get pinned against the wall
slosh your bitter ale on t-shirt
boy hugs you against
broad frame of body
you hear their tongue
click against their teeth
feel it like getting bitten
cologne like muddled mint
lips sticky from summer
could drop
to knees & lick
the sweat from their calves
did they gnaw on it
to protect you
you think
you’ll split
in two
have to trace
the shapes of old
hitching posts
on walk to
poetry reading
like you can tether
yourself or be rescued
by a set of platform pumps
too big for your flat feet
and cotton-polyester socks
stuck to the insides
you’re falling over
so that you can be
sticky with wanting
the boy to look at you
flash lipstick mouth
in your ardent direction
Boston Gordon is a poet and writer living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They run the You Can't Kill A Poet reading series, which highlights queer and trans identified writers in Philadelphia. Their work can be found in places such as Bedfellows, Tinderbox, PRISM International, and Guernica.