dream dad wants to know if I'm a


he thinks I'm living with some girl from high school
no, from "eighth grade"
he saw us sitting together at graduation
he wants to talk about "growing up" I'm amused
my ex used to worry too
I worked at a women's bookstore & devoured
women's lit "feminist doctrine" he sneered
rhyming it with brine
intellectually it made sense to me
a good idea to be a lesbian
I only lusted after guys
though not, unfortunately, him



-- Gwynne Garfinkle

(originally published in The American Voice, No. 49)