If my mother were
alive, she’d want to
know how it was
my husband and I
met, would want to
know what it meant
to hookup on
dating sites, what
exactly an “ass-
hungry power top
with a dick that won’t
quit” looks like, and I
would have to do
my best to tell her
exactly what I was
looking for because
that’s what intimacy
is all about, having
spent a few decades
flat on my back
on a couch in a room
papered over in neutral
colors, testing out
my faith in a talking
cure as I got all
gussied up for my
meet-cute that would
outlast the years
my mother had left
on this earth, the deck
she kept on shuffling
right up to the end
a bit worn-out but
complete were it not
for all the Kings
that went missing—
—Timothy Liu (Green Linden Press)