Hot Flashes: 150 more Little Queer Tales
Paradise Press, May 30, 2026
when I tell him I’m gay
dad wants to send me
to Mayo
for a pill
to cure it
dad gives me
a sex ed book
not knowing
I already have
a private tutor
*winner of the Under-40-Words Competition
when I tell them
I’m gay
mom tells dad
it’s her fault
and he believes her
if I find my biological mother
when she learns I am gay
will she give me up
again
UNDETECTABLE
The doctors tell me it’s ‘weak’,
largely under control,
probably non-transmissible,
practically non-existent.
They’re farily confident
I’m mostly safe,
pretty much fine,
almost normal.
So, this means
I can stop worrying –
I can relax, right?
This means I can relax?