Classic and Contemporary Poetry
READING WHITMAN IN A TOILET STALL, by TIMOTHY LIU Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A security-man who stood, arms crossed, outside Last Line: As we walk out of our secrets into the world Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Trysts; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men | ||||||||
A security-man who stood, arms crossed, outside the men's room (making sure that no one lingered) met my eyes with the same dispassionate gaze as a woman inside, kneeling to clean the toilets. The faintly buzzing flicker of fluorescent light erased the contours of a place where strangers openly parade their sex. Efficient, silent, all ammonia and rubber gloves, she was in and out of there in minutes, taking no notice of the pocket Whitman that I leafed my way through before the others arrived. In paths untrodden, / In the growth by margins of pondwaters, / Escaped from the light that exhibits itself -- how those words came flooding back to me while men began to take their seats, glory holes the size of silver dollars in the farthest stall where no adolescent went unnoticed. O daguerreotyped Walt, your collar unbuttoned, hat lopsided, hand on hip, your sex never evading our view! how we are confined by steel partitions, dates and initials carved into the latest coat of paint, an old car key the implement of our secret desires. Wanted: uncut men with lots of cheese. No fats. No femmes. Under twenty a real plus. How each of us must learn to decipher the erotic hieroglyphs of our age, prayers on squares of one-ply paper flushed daily down the john where women have knelt in silence, where men with folded arms stand guard while we go about our task, our tongues made holy by licking each other's asshole clean, shock of sperm warm in our mouths, white against the clothes we wear as we walk out of our secrets into the world. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FEMALE MASCULINITY by WAYNE KOESTENBAUM THE ASS FESTIVAL by WAYNE KOESTENBAUM THE BOOK OF SCAPEGOATS by WAYNE KOESTENBAUM DOSSIER OF IRRETRIEVABLES by WAYNE KOESTENBAUM THIS ONE'S FOR YOU by JAN HELLER LEVI I KNOW MY HUSBAND'S BODY by TIMOTHY LIU |
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