Page 51 of The Black Flamingo

---

and banter as Kieran puts his arm around me.

Our PE teacher wears

rainbow laces

on his soccer cleats.

The two things I enjoy

about soccer

are watching Kieran play,

and how our teacher’s laces

say to me:

“It’s okay to be gay.”

If Kieran was my boyfriend,

would Mum let him stay over?

Would we wait until sixteen?

Would we wait until marriage?

How Christian is Kieran?

When God made Kieran,

did He make him for me?

I imagine us in Eden—

two black boys in Paradise,

naked, no fig leaves.

Adam and Eve are long gone,

so Kieran and Michael

inherit the garden

and the serpent is forgotten

and the fruit on the tree

of knowledge has gone rotten.

Sweet Sixteen

Sometimes I find notes in my schoolbag.

They are quotes from the Bible.

You shall not lie with a male

---