POETRY BY DANI PUTNEY

DEAR JEREMY

I sucked your dick,

then you became a Mormon.

Is this identity retrograde

or reaffirmation of a truth

you tried to flee,

my tongue the escape rope?

Sometimes all we are

is latent heteronormativity.

What I’m trying to say:

I want you to remember me

at inconvenient times like mid-

coitus with your Utahn wife

or in the shower alone

with your thoughts + hands.

What I really mean:

I hope I didn’t turn you off

to Raphaelite beauty,

discourage you from the allure

of humanity’s androgyny—

if I’m not beautiful,

what am I? What gets me

by is queer narcissism, a love

of replicating myself

through those around me.

I can’t understand

why you married a window

rather than a mirror, why

your reflection of me

wasn’t enough.