Prom
by Casey Jespon
© 2000
It was my first date.
So far, my only date.
Nearly a blind one, too; twas arranged before we ever met.
I wore a maroon satin & velvet dress;
(I had to shave my chest for it)
She wore black pants and a black sweater over a bright orange shirt
An odd couple we seemed,
Me a little, virginal transvestite
And Mallory, a bisexual black girl who, thought younger, towered over me
I picked her up in Renton, where I’d never been
And took her to a restaurant where I’d never been.
And we danced.
We danced slow, we danced dirty
And every third song, while I caught my breath
She’d be on her cell phone talkin’ to people I’ve never met.
It was a major triumph of my life
Getting away with things my parents wouldn’t do at gunpoint
And I threw a party afterwards
No one showed up until after 2:00, but they swarmed
Even Maren was there, who wun’t even at Prom
Still...
I tried a one-armed pushup, failed
I tried one with a skinny boy on my back, failed.
And as for romance, Hah!
She kissed not me, but her old girlfriend
Who’d just been married in her pajamas
My mom even made us sleep in separate rooms
After that Mallory moved, and I never spoke to her again
But I was told she was there at Prom, the very next year.
I wonder what she wore.
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