the pull to listen to
my high-school-age sound-track
is so damn strong

helping to direct a play
set in 2003
in two boys’ high school careers
and high school emotions
and high school coming-outs
[comings-out?]

it reminds me so highly
of my own story in
2006

the first love
[though mine did not last]
[thank goodness]
the self-hatred and
fear of the world
as you find your own footing
in your own community
[though my church was not a christian one]
even as that shifts to a different community
perhaps a community
of two

“we’re keeping it alive”
“what?”
“each other”

is one of the truest moments
i’ve ever heard on the page

and i hope it still rings so true
to a public audience
on the stage