The Old Days

1
 
you wonder how we did it in the old days
 
as if sex really was invented back
in nineteen sixty-three
 
and gay sex in sixty-seven
 
but sex is sex
just as eating is eating
it's all the same innate wanting
whether you like Red Leicester with beef
or casserole
or whatever
 
I can't sum it up
except with an anecdote
 
2
 
there were guys who were better at it than others
who could pick up sailors
morning noon and night
and never get beaten up
 
I wasn't like that
didn't have the social skills I guess
 
instead I'd make a guess and try
if the bloke looked safe enough
 
like once in a pub near Blackpool Beach
as moonlight tangled in the Ferris wheel
and only sad men were left at the bar
 
his name was Trevor and I'd served with him
'hope I can serve you again' I said
taking a swig of my pint as I did
so if it came to it I could say
that I was drunk not queer
 
we ended up back at his place
a flat
better than my boarding house
the rules of which likely
precluded sodomy
 
3
 
we lay there after  
just recovering
not touching though I tried
to put my arm around him
 
he shrugged it off
as if letting a man caress
is more intimate
than letting him come inside you
 
which
perhaps
it was