What to Say When Tongue-Tied During Phone Sex
Wait by Hoho Kuo
No one beat me. Except when I asked.
My lemonade stand was attacked
For her goodness. The Uber driver mirror-glared,
You’re better than a man. You’re free. Kneeling
Is the furthest from pathetic. Knowing
Is the promise to repeatedly deceive
Myself. I debate which
Pronoun sticker to hang around
My neck. People say the women’s
Bathroom line is always longer because
Every sitting snakeskins. I stick
& poke by flashlight. I sand slow
Dances into my father’s fading
Voicemails. Do they call you
Sensitive when you ask what time
It’s supposed to rain? The global disaster
Of my naming circles each daisy
Standing up. Sign my life
Away to the person crying next
To me, at the poetry reading, whom I don’t
Console, don’t silken by the wrist;
Neglect can be the most attentive
Meter. So why do I keep gnawing
Pleasure, my fear of it,
Even when—no, especially because—
It’s lessened me.
—————
MANNY DETTMANN (they/he) is a trans and queer poet, performer, arts educator, and the author of Untranslatable Honeyed Bruises. They earned their MFA in poetry from New York University and have received support from the Kenyon Review Writers Workshops and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Dettmann was the winner of the 2023 Peseroff Prize in Poetry, selected by Jake Skeets, and their poems have been nominated for 2025 Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. Their work has appeared in publications such as The Adroit Journal, Stanford’s poetry journal Mantis, FENCE’s 25th Anniversary Issue, and The Southeast Review, among others.