rushing pittman
Date night…yes or no?
A kingfisher with one wing.
Wobbling up to a lake and not knowing what to do.
My wedding ring tight on my finger.
It’s important to dress well for date night.
We watch a movie about a woman who finds her greatest love.
But she’s disappointed by her future.
The day split in half like an earthquake in a sacred city.
Frog in a tree. Jeweled eyes.
Stick of night.
We hold hands under the blanket.
I’m at the corner of the road.
Just standing there.
No more asking questions.
No more Do You Want to Marry Me?
So for instance, say for a second, you LIKE me.
This isn’t about sex or what it means to be alive.
I open the screen door and whistle.
You don’t like my whistling.
When I’m old, I’ll be old.
You’ll be old.
Anyway, I didn’t slam the door on purpose.
It just swung behind me like that.
rushing pittman
Rushing Pittman is a transgender man from Alabama. His writing has appeared in Sundog Lit, Annulet, jubilat, The Boiler, Hayden’s Ferry Review and other various journals. He is the author of the chapbooks Mad Dances for Mad Kings (Factory Hollow Press, 2015) and There Is One Crow That Will Not Stop Cawing (Another New Calligraphy, 2016). He earned his MFA in poetry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is an editor for Biscuit Hill, an online poetry journal.