Watching a Rock Hudson Western at the Briscoe

Jonathan Fletcher

 San Antonio, Texas

 

In a film of leathered men,

I don’t know where I fit.

 

Not with chaps or straps.

Not atop a saddle, lariat in hand.

 

Not with Elizabeth Taylor, either,

nightgown white, ready to bed.

 

Tall, broad, and chiseled,

Rock Hudson could’ve fooled me.

 

With the girl I dated last year,

I didn’t mean to fool others.

 

There is no “A” in my buckle.

No A-shaped tag or scar on me.

 

In a herd of other letters,

I feel sometimes alone, trampled.