A POEM by JUSTIN BAILEY

Coming Out at Chick-fil-A

hey mom I like this chick
-fil-a place. it’s cleaner
than the last place we went.

how clean do you think I am?
I’m telling you: the baptism
cleansed me enough, or didn’t—

whichever way you want
to think about it. everything exists
inside desire.

what better place
to come out than here, surrounded
with fried cocks & hens?

the way we say
rooster in place of cock.
the way we soften

our words to avoid the opening
of desire, the conversations,
the knowledge of your son

being an embodiment of himself
& you can hear the buzzing
in his core.

the chick-fil-a’s about to close,
an employee tells us,
& I say to you: anyway,

it’ll be okay.
& I stuff my mouth
with cock

nuggets.

---

Justin Bailey is not a real person. He is writing under a pseudonym because he cannot picture himself looking his parents and colleagues in the eye knowing they have read about how their son/coworker wants cock in his mouth in an online magazine. He can be found online at grindr.com.