Lillian

folk dances in a handmade dress

green and purple as crayons

and decries the lack of sense

in her fellow Idahoans. I didn’t know

splitting her Seattle hotel room would mean

sharing a Queen-sized bed while she

paws my chest, asking Why label yourself?,

saying under the right conditions she could

easily love a woman instead of

her rigid husband from the Department of Energy.

When I tell her I’ve lived in Portland half my life

she cries Don’t say that! and I have to clarify

that I don’t mean my life is half over.

David Rutiezer