People buy artisanal honey

            near the rainbow crosswalk.

Men are all working on balance

            inside a gym.

I translate a Swedish cookbook that says

           we should eat for Wellness.

If you don’t use new vocabulary

          at least three times, it vanishes.

In the Castro, there are few reminders

         of those lost to AIDS – 

a shuttered funeral home,

         a forgotten legacy slated

for condos. Lamp posts plastered

        with party posters

of boys in jockstraps.

       When I was young,

I feared I’d grow up and never

       be touched.