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Syntax Issue 10
Denver Syntax
{glory hole}
  eli richardson


My eyes are bloodshot & thirsty, I am drunk & a long way from this happening. But she cries, why? I ask

Are you crying
No, she says
Why?

Am I dumb enough to drop my drawers in public begging to be spanked. It seems like walled up in the stall.

I'm not crying
No, you're not, I say shriveled, with bits of me melting on her chin & the 5th hand begging:

Spare a square?

Under the stall her hand rips the tissue, pauses, & massages.

I'm not crying, in a whisper
Spare a square?

Under the stall her hand rips the tissue, pauses, and massages.

Her mouth is a thousand wet doves. No, swallows, the fast & eager kind. But not, like wet swallows, but fast. More like clouds with wings. & swallows.

Does it hurt?

But she can't answer. Choked up & passing spare squares under the toilet stalls.

I'm not crying.