forbidden youth
we kissed in stairwells
we kissed behind bleachers
we kissed in the backrooms
of house parties
we kissed where no one
could see
or were too drunk for
judgment at all
because
there were
consequences for our
love
unlike the postcards of
blonde women with
their blonde men
instead of generic
pictures in new frames
we received
death threats
especially from your gun toting
father who threatened
to kill me for
kissing his son
in the driveway and then
flashed the muzzle of a magnum
at a high school sophomore
as he broke down
crying harder
than both of us
combined
I look back on all these moments
as if I were flipping through a
nostalgic book of days gone
but days somehow better
and even though boys beat us
in the locker rooms and
bullied us in front of teachers-
the memories bring a smile
still
yet it retreats into a frown
on nights spent toiling alone
and even worse
when thinking of where you have gone
where I am now
how would anyone know
we shared this passion
I sometimes forget
myself
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Brandon Shane is a poet and horticulturist, born in Yokosuka, Japan. You can see his work in trampset, The Chiron Review, IceFloe Press, The Argyle Literary Magazine, Berlin Literary Review, Acropolis Journal, Grim & Gilded, Ink in Thirds, Dark Winter Lit, Discretionary Love, among many others. He graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a degree in English.