Bardot and Me
I must have been only twelve—no more
when she came to our local movie house:
Bardot. Love Is My Profession. Somehow
they sold us tickets, Ricky and me. Over
popcorn and Jujubes we giggled to see
the naked actress. She was beautiful. We
loved her. The Catholic Church did not.
It had condemned the film making it a sin
to watch it. So I went to Confession to ask
God’s forgiveness. I did not tell the priest
that Ricky and I jerked each other off
in the theatre toilet. That had nothing to do
with Brigitte. We did it all the time. Oh,
she would have loved us. We were animals.
*
Expat New Yorker James Penha (he/him) has lived for the past three decades in Indonesia. His story collection Queer As Folk Tales was published by Deep Desires Press in October 2025. His chapbook of poems American Daguerreotypes is available for Kindle. Penha edits The New Verse News, an online journal of current-events poetry. Bluesky: @jamespenha.bsky.social