A POEM by HUNTER HODKINSON

Kidney Stone Origin Story

Moments ago this rash was eczema,

but upon further inspection

they notice I actually

checked “homosexual”

on my intake form,

so now it’s a different disease.

Gonorrhea tumbles from

their K95 mouths like a dry heave.

A shot in the ass rights my wrongs.

But it only gets worse.

The Urologist is convinced

it must be herpes.

Sure I was a hoe

in Paris but it

wasn’t even

that serious.

For 2 weeks I rot with my new label,

incurable, but my blood can’t tell a lie.

The results are in:

Huntie, you are not the parent of

anything sexually transmitted!

The culprit is coming from

inside the house.

They pump me full of contrast,

turn every light on, & there,

like a stone thrown through

my genetic window,

my jagged answer.

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Hunter Hodkinson is a poet and editor, building community in Brooklyn and Northeast Ohio. They teach with Brooklyn Poets, read for The Adroit Journal, and are the founder of Dead End Editions, a press and zine showcasing art, poetry, and interview. Their work appears or is forthcoming in Diode, Epiphany, Dream Boy Book Club, Abobo Zine, and elsewhere. They are the author of two chapbooks: “Mean Gays,” (Tiny Cutlery, 2024) and “A Body For Someone’s Rich Son To Ruin” (Bottlecap Press, 2025).