MY GRINDR

after Denise Duhamel’s “MY STRIP CLUB”

by Aaron DeLee

MY GRINDR after Denise Duhamel’s “MY STRIP CLUB“

In my Grindr
the guys show up
baring grins
and hard-bound
books they nimbly finger
open as bottles of rosé
and buttons on cardigans.
When the conversation’s lit
they lick their thumbs
and flurry a fan of pages
to favorite passages––
they’re so poignant.
They excitedly exclaim
how close they are
to finishing a novel.
A well-read gentlemen
asks to slide his way
into my DM’s
where he’ll share
private pics of his
massive bookshelf
filthy and covered
all in cobwebs.

Aaron DeLee (he/him) received his MFA from Northwestern University and has work published in places such as ‘Assaracus’, ‘Court Green’, and ‘Rougarou’. He leads the Leather Poetry Workshop Group at the Leather Archives & Museum. Besides poetry, he also practices sumi-e painting through the Japanese Culture Center in Chicago.