When My Students Ask Why I'm Wearing Timberlands I Want to Say
MANNY DETTMAN | Poetry
I’m not a knockoff but my boots are.
I’m not evasive except in bad poems.
The closest I’ve come
To death is calling
An ambulance for my good
Grief. No one’s measured
My feet. No one’s allowed me
To find my family’s
Answers; so
Spur me into a stud
Of our unconscious
Stars. I’m right here.
Next to Chekov’s smoking
Sun. Give me a minute.
I’m conversing with our gay
Dead. Who do I betray most
When I don’t run
With angels? Soft steps stir
My sleep. I weigh more now
And that’s terrifying.
I pulled on my shadows
To be here today.
They’re size 8.
Who do I play
In the dark? My sleeping bag
With a thousand slick
Mouths. I spoon my love
And pedal my toes
Inside them. I’m listening
To disobedience. Made out
Of velvety leather & rubber
Soles. Why this exact pair?
I don’t want to be waterproof.
I don’t want to be spared.
Manny Dettmann is a queer poet who is the author of UNTRANSLATABLE HONEYED BRUISES. They earned their MFA from New York University and were the winner of the 2023 Peseroff Prize in Poetry selected by Jake Skeets. Dettmann’s poems have been nominated for 2025 Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize, appearing in publications such as The Adroit Journal, FENCE, Portland Review, Southeast Review, and Verse Daily, among others.