Emily goes on a date

Night started out okay,
He was nice he
bought me a cherry coke and
shared his sweet-potato fries and his broccoli.
Later his friends would call him a Jew for
not buying me dinner but he wasn’t stingy
I’d just already eaten,
beforehand.

He was nice at the frat party.
His frat hates their school,
they’re the normal ones
not the Armani tight-jeaned faggots or
rich bitch stuck-up whores no
they were just normal guys
liked flipcup and beer pong
liked old-school rap meaning Tupac
liked nicknames like
"Swamp-girl" for the ugly girl
one of their brothers had hooked up with
and "Mexican" for my date.
He didn’t like this nickname he
insisted he wasn’t Mexican
just because he'd lived in Spain
just because his mother was from Panama
and named the other Hispanic countries of his heritage
that were cooler.

Anyway he was nice he would
set his hand on my back sometimes and
pumped the keg for me.

He walked me home we went by the waterfront
I dropped him off at the Metro and
we kissed.
Not sure why except
maybe because he was nice,
with the beer and the broccoli and all,
but more probably because
it’s what one does on a date,
an empty formality
like shaking hands—
seems harmless enough but
in reality spreads germs.
Anyway it was a spectacularly boring kiss,
it's funny the feeling of
lip on lip
feels so different depending on
who it's with.

The next morning I felt depressed
maybe because I’d wasted a whole night
not wanting to be where I was or
maybe because I’d wasted a whole morning
slightly hungover with the blinds down low
or maybe because
I’d been excited about the date,
beforehand.

EWV