Tuesday poem #570 : Loch Baillie : Blowjob Bildungsroman

 

 

The story of the boys on the dock / one peels
off his socks / and edges into the water / now
on my back / his shoes press into mine on the
mat / I sit up once / twice / focus on his knees
/ brown hairs up and down / the fronts of his
thighs / creeping under his shorts / now I’m
kneeling / on the beige carpet in the living
room / now I’m tearing a page from a book /
slipping it inside the play horse / it says nothing
/ neigh / nothing / now I am knees down on
the maroon carpet / now we’re in bed / my
childhood bed / grows with the child / said the
box / the dark wood followed me for years /
now the bedknobs gone / now I do things I
cannot speak of / knees down on year-round
car mats / I say stay / say pray / will forth / a
dandelion seed / blow it away / make a wish /
a wish: to become / a man on my own feet /
a wish: to become / a man without filling my
mouth / with someone else’s words.

 

 

 

 

Originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, Loch Baillie is a queer poet and writer living on the south shore of Quebec City. In 2023, he was mentored by ReLit Award-winning poet Simina Banu as part of the Quebec Writers’ Federation mentorship program. Loch’s writing has appeared in Font, Maclean’s, Maybe Magazine, Society Pages, and yolk literary. He is currently the poet-in-residence for Canada’s Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence. His debut chapbook Citronella (Anstruther Press) was published in early 2024.

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan