They are the summer’s buzz and the chill
of cold forties pressed to the sweaty
crooks of their knees, pretty as a pair
of hip-hop princesses dressed up in thrift shop
finery. Tonight they are golden, all honey
and shiver, and sweet clover perfume
as the moon peeks out. Honeysuckle
and lavender, clever and bawdy,
they’re here to kick the door in
to the after party. Their lips are glossed,
aglow like lightning bugs, their hair
is teased as high as the rafters. They’re
ready for business if that business
is pleasure. Tonight they’re the girls
every man here is after. They’ve unlocked
the laughter from their private
honeycombs, sugared old hurts
till they taste like Alizé. They sparkle,
they shimmer; friends find them
unfamiliar; they dance with each other,
push drunk men out of the way. Tonight
someone’s tagging the overpass again;
someone’s got hotdogs sizzling on a grill.
Someone’s spilling cheap gossip
that stings like 80 proof. None of it matters
to these two kissing girls.
Kelly McQuain’s chapbook, Velvet Rodeo, was recently chosen by poet C. Dale Young for BLOOM magazine’s poetry prize. McQuain’s writing has appeared in such venues as Painted Bride Quarterly, Kestrel, The Pinch, Assaracus, The Harrington Gay Men’s Fiction Quarterly, and American Writing, as well as in numerous anthologies, including Best American Erotica, Men on Men, Between: New Gay Poetry, Drawn to Marvel: Poems from the Comic Books, The Queer South and Skin & Ink. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best New Poets, and Best of the Net; among his writing awards are two fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. His book reviews and essays on city life