Sex Education

One could argue

it was all Henry’s fault

Henry being one of my buds

not best 

friends

in sixth and seventh grades

but still

the first day of eighth

a familiar

I thought 

trusty

face

in the new school

Walking

side by side

to first period homeroom

with boy bunch

guy chatter

I toss my arm

like a wave

over his shoulder

the way Lou Gehrig

would have

with Babe Ruth

and how could I know

what I’d never known

the word

homo

with spittle

a shove

then

queer

entering now

the realm

of the unclean

from the happy land

of supposed

fag-free fun

same gang

same friend

curtain of temple torn

another male hymen-heart

undone

How could Henry help

what every Hank and Harry learned 

in every Boy Scout tent

and rancid locker room

the too huge 

coarseness chorus

of man-raged fear

no soft

or sweetness

accepted here

Ah henry

I hope help found you fast

and faster

than it freed me

to wrap your arms

around yourself

however best you need.