The Advocacy Council for Human Rights

by Gene Naden
rainbowactivist@gmail.com

Donny, you were my first friend, my best friend, my only friend.
We made up stories and acted them out.
Inspired by Gunsmoke, The Rifleman and Rawhide.

I stayed overnight most weekends.
In the big double bed upstairs.

You discovered Little League baseball.
I tried it.
It didn’t interest me.
I would rather be making out.
Or just acting

Then you started talking about girls.
What was this?
I was mystified.
I had no interest in them.

We drifted apart. It hurt.
I realized I had lost you.
There was no one I could tell,
Nowhere I could go.

One day I took a long walk in the forest
Then a long hot bath.
I cried in the tub.
No one asked why.
No one asked why.
Why.

Still a boy, I silently swore I would forget.
Forget what it felt like.
To sleep with Donnie.

I never did.