Masculinity
I had to wear it every day
despite
how ill-fitted it was
how badly I reacted
to its rough material
like battery acid
on my tender skin
so easily cut and chewed
and spat out
by boys who wore it better
my costume so oversized
it hung
off my scrawny body
in foreboding drapes
trousers too wide and too long
falling
down and gathering at my feet
tripping over the excess
subjugation
countless cuts and bruises
14 years old and weeping
to 80’s power ballads
I listen to them now
and feel nothing
but shame
disrobing itself
my form exposed
able
*
David Hanlon is a poet from Cardiff, Wales. He is a Best of the Net nominee. You can find his work online in over 50 magazines, including Rust & Moth, Kissing Dynamite & Homology Lit. His first chapbook Spectrum of Flight is available for purchase now at Animal Heart Press. You can follow him on twitter @davidhanlon13 and Instagram @welshpoetd
