three boys

Booch o’connell | Spring 2022

I played a game with three boys
One blonde with glasses who loves to sing
One with a Neil Young shirt and a clear voice

And one with hands that melt my surfaces into their surroundings
A smile that makes my face hurt
And gentle movements that I always listen for

I knew this game
But not how to play
I was the ice breakers
I had to kill monkeys and angels
I had to push them off the board
I always died first
I clicked 
Clueless
But still got wiser with each new life
I learned how to damage more than I learned to survive

We were going to eat sugar fish
But I wanted to hear the bright Cuban singers
Down the street
And we ate, instead
Me and the three boys

We proved our health
We were let in
We were placed right under the musicians
Me and the three boys

How great is this
This place is packed
It was so nice last time we were here
This is the best

A 
Cubano
Two Arroz con Pollos
And
A Tilapia al Limon
Was brought to our table
With waters all around

As the singers went on
Some couples danced
With mastery
And others got better as time turned
I said that in Belgium there are places like this
(It’s because the cold, soggy Europeans want the sun they don’t have)

We walked back to school
and saw a girl in a coat and a mini dress
With legs that no one told 
it was eighteen degrees

Why are you wearing that? 
Hey, are you cold?
I don’t mean anything bad.
Here, you can have my jacket.

If I was that girl and three guys I didn’t know started calling out to me
I would be scared
I don’t know
I’m just saying
I 
Would be
But
she 
wasn’t 
It’s okay
Sorry

The tall one with rich, happy hair went quiet
(The tall one rich, happy hair is the one that I love)
He didn’t mean it
He felt bad
He was sorry
(He really felt bad)

I know I know
Don’t worry
I understand
She wasn’t scared
It’s okay

We got back then
And the blonde one taught my joy how to dance
Salsa
He held my waist in his soft hands
My face muscles were screaming for an hour
And golden light
Filled the space in between our open smiling
Laughing mouths
The blonde danced alone
More skillfully than me and my lover

The new one watched on
Content with the rightness of the scene

And me and the one who is everything I love
We kept fusing together
And continued to weld in ways I couldn’t believe we hadn’t yet
Our physiology was telling us what our hearts
Don’t Stop Moving Together.

This is what college is about
The new one said
No this is what life is about
My lover said for us all

And then
Without a word
In our own little corners
Me and the three boys decided to dream