Kenny handed me
The Elements of Style
the day he left for college.
"One last jab at my grammar?"
I asked,
but he said nothing
& the book went untouched
all summer until
Mom's nagging got to me
& I decided to
move things around,
make the room look cleaner.
Only then did I find
the looseleaf between
page 34 & 35
on which Kenny wrote
of the box
on his side of the closet
I should see now
with his clothes gone.
It was old cardboard
like the ones for
Report Cards & Papers
but unmarked,
freshly taped,
containing
a dozen Playboys
& a brand new
bottle of baby oil.
I figured out the rest:
replace the tape
& oil regularly,
& hang my clothes
to keep it hidden.

in a motel room,
a turned-up TV set
blaring simulated sex.
A water stain
above my head
reminds me.
The mattress
making crinkly noises
reminds me.
Everything reminds me,
but my dick
and I just wonder
what we saw in each other.