after Sharon Olds’ Never Saw

my mattress-on-the-floor first apartment
my met-at-the-student-union first boyfriend
the year they said the world would end
I had to do it before the world would end
roommates shouting through the wall in mockery
droplets of breath collecting on cold winter glass
summoning mold and other irritants 
thrift store couches and drives in Greta,
my Honda with a failing transmission
that grinded from every halt 
in Bellingham I slid myself into adulthood,
watched carefully for mess and stared
into the wide eyes of my expectant lover
a multitude of dilations, concurrent 

Alex Vigue is a queer writer from Ridgefield, WA. He has been recently published in Moss, Foglifter, and Icebreakers Lit. His debut chapbook “The Myth of Man” was published by Floating Bridge Press and his microchap “Lay Waste” was published by Ghost City Press.