Gedicht

Danez Smith

Side by side

The 17-Year-Old & the Gay Bar

this gin-heavy heaven, blessed ground to think gay & mean we.
bless the fake id & the bouncer who knew
this need to be needed, to belong, to know how
a man taste full on vodka & free of sin. i know not which god to pray to.
i look to christ, i look to every mouth on the dance floor, i order
a whiskey coke, name it the blood of my new savior. he is just.
he begs me to dance, to marvel men with the
dash
of hips i brought, he deems my mouth in some stranger’s mouth necessary.
bless that man’s mouth, the song we sway sloppy to, the beat, the bridge, the length
of his hand on my thigh & back & i know not which country i am of.
i want to live on his tongue, build a home of gospel & gayety
i want to raise a city behind his teeth for all boys of choirs & closets to refuge in.
i want my new god to look at the mecca i built him & call it damn good
or maybe i’m just tipsy & free for the first time, willing to worship anything i can taste.

This poem uses the Golden Shovel form.

Danez Smith

(Verenigde Staten, )

Danez Smith is geboren in St. Paul, Minnesota, en is de auteur van drie dichtbundels, waaronder Homie (Graywolf Press, 2020), dat de Minnesota Book Award en de Heartland Bookseller Award won en finalist was voor de National Book Critics Circle Award en de NAACP Image Award. Smith is ook de auteur van Don't Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017), dat finalist was voor de National Book Award en winn...