cruising (1980)
by Cameron Gorman
Summer Poetry Contest Finalist
From the jump, “cruising (1980)” is a magnetic showcase of longing and uncertainty (“I wonder what could be wrong with loving / to death”), soundtracked by whatever muscle sleeps on the back of Al Pacino’s on-screen, snakeskin methodicalness. “my body, slim and yolked, flat and alive,” the poet writes, wondrous in their akinment to empathetic and curious self-preservation. What a world this poem is, full of leather and hope and long goodbyes to hellos we haven’t even caught up to. —Matt Mitchell
Cameron Gorman (they/them) is a nonbinary poet pursuing their MFA at Ohio State University. They are an associate editor for The Journal and have been published in Hobart and The Rumpus.
