Sex Education

Virginity was the currency 
of being wanted, I learned 
from the local seminarians 
who preached abstinence 
in our public high school.
By then, my boyfriend’s dick 
had already been everywhere 
except inside me, his want
a tremolo. I’d trained my 
stamen on Sharpie markers 
before his mouth was on me 
at fourteen. We fumbled
in a tent in Arizona, rustling 
nylon while his parents 
slept. At school I watched
a virgin unwrap & chew 
a piece of gum, then spit 
the wad into her own 
palm, offering the sticky
mound to a boy who refused 
it on cue. His face a lemon 
of disgust, Nobody wants 
someone who’s already
been used. I crossed my legs, 
pretending. In truth, I was 
giddy with power, in awe
of how I’d made a boy wither 
& whimper, my grip firm, 
his pleasure my reward. He 
limped himself malleable—




I held him hard like the stick 
shift of my little red Jetta,
my thirst for control a vibrato.

Read more from Issue 17.1.