ahrend Torrey

SOUTHERN-FAGGOT BLUES

Just going out to dinner/is a cautious outing.
Just driving out to dinner/is a careful outing.
Holding hands in public/we hear people shouting.

When the neighbors ask who he is/he’s always a friend.
When we stand in line at the corner store/we always offend.
Like denial of ourselves/we have to pretend.

Outside our house/we can’t express with a flag.
No matter how bad we want/we can’t put out our flag.
Our house we be the target:/the house of the fags.

We put on our face/that we don’t care. 
We keep on that face/but we are aware.
Just the other day/the worker cut us with glare. 

With all this said and done/we feel better off in home.
With all this sad and done/we assume just staying in home.

Safe behind the boards/until the hatery is gone.
Safe behind the boards/until the hatery is gone.

______

MENTAL ILLNESS OF A GAY BOY

They changed his chemistry thinking 
it’d help him weather. 

He changed his environment, and came out

much better.

______

WHAT WE DO WITH EXTINCTION 

All the worms of the world have disappeared.

The robins, with their gray wings and orange breast, 
eat bits of glass, then harden / to crystal. 

Years later, we find one in a ditch 
glistening like a block of ice in a congested neighborhood. 

We say: “Oh, oh —what a lovely, lovely 

centerpiece!”

______

AHREND TORREY ENJOYS EXPLORING NATURE IN SOUTHERN LOUISIANA WHERE HE LIVES WITH HIS HUSBAND JONATHAN, THEIR TWO RAT TERRIERS DICHTER AND DOVA, AND PURL, THEIR CAT. HE HOLDS AN MA AND MFA IN CREATIVE WRITING FROM WILKES UNIVERSITY IN WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA, AND IS THE AUTHOR OF “SMALL BLUE HARBOR” PUBLISHED BY THE POETRY BOX SELECT IMPRINT (PORTLAND) IN 2019. HIS POETIC INFLUENCES INCLUDE ANNE SEXTON, CAVAFY, ETHERIDGE KNIGHT, JAMES WRIGHT, JANE KENYON, LANGSTON HUGHES, LI-YOUNG LEE, MARY OLIVER, AND WALT WHITMAN.