brian yapko
WHAT KIND OF CLUB?
Around midnight and in a few sleepless hours
we’d fly to Cuzco. Out this late was the only
chance Vince and I had to enjoy Lima’s club
scene in Mira Flores, an exotic world of
impossible late-night crowds, where Hectór
told us we’d find bronze tans, trim mustaches
and tight pantalones. On the busy street the
straights knew us and stared. Then my pupils
dilated at the sight of a movie-handsome man
driving a brown-eyed Audi. He stared at me.
I gave him the quickening-of-my-heart smile.
He paused. Then he spit onto the street and
sneered the word maricón with all the malice of
the high school boys who pushed me into gym
lockers and mocked me with the “f” word that
rhymes with jag and reeks of bruises and tears.
Maricón. I trembled. Vince just laughed. Let’s
go back to the posada, I begged. Vince, younger
than me, stronger and undamaged, said
hell-to-the-no. We finally found the address
in a dark side-alley. It was guarded by a tall man
in uniform who wanted our passports and who
inquired coldly why we were there. Vince said
we had heard this was a club. What kind of club?
el macho asked, staring us down. Vince said for
music, to dance. El macho stood, loomed over us
and in a gruff voice repeated Que tipo de club?
I saw Vince’s eyes narrow. Then, despite the sneers,
the slurs, the gun clearly visible in el macho’s
holster, the dodginess of the dark alley, the jet-lag
and our broken Spanish, Vince grabbed my hand,
pulled me to him and pressed his lips to mine,
confident and hard. I cringed, turned red and got
ready to run. But the guard nodded gravely, gave
us back our passports and said muy bien, you may
enter. As we passed, el macho smiled the secret
smile of those who know that true bravery may
be found in a simple kiss. Enjoy yourselves,
he called after us in broken English.
BRIAN YAPKO IS A LAWYER WHOSE POEMS HAVE APPEARED IN MULTIPLE PUBLICATIONS, INCLUDING PROMETHEUS DREAMING, TOFU INK, CAGIBI, POETICA, GRAND LITTLE THINGS, THE SOCIETY OF CLASSICAL POETS, CHAINED MUSE, TEMPERED RUNES, GARFIELD LAKE REVIEW, SPARKS OF CALLIOPE, ABSTRACT ELEPHANT AND OTHERS. HIS FIRST NOVEL EL NUEVO MUNDO WILL BE PUBLISHED IN SUMMER, 2022 BY REBEL SATORI PRESS. HE LIVES IN SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO.