Human Error

For Brant

Clear across the room, shining in dim light,
The rock hard golden boy with baby face
Shifts his weight side to side, dancing in place,
A dazzling Apollonian sight.
But Olympian Brant slows the pace
To greet his votaries with lips pouted.
"I'm not concerned about being outed,"
He says. Yet he does need some private space.

And after the show, the god has to eat,
For exertion makes body overheat.
Off to reinvigorate with a white
Omelette, he's followed by stalker one night.
Eluding this fan throws off his diet,
Forcing him to breakfast where they fry it.

Brant is an actor who also works as a dancer, model, and bartender. A member of Actors' Equity, he has appeared on the soap operas Another World and As the World Turns and in the film The Cut Runs Deep. His stage rôles include Joseph Wykowski in Biloxi Blues, Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Bo in Bus Stop, Delmot in The Miss Firecracker Contest, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mike Connor in The Philadelphia Story, and the Nudist in Harold and the Nudist. A native of New Orleans, Brant is proud of his skill in preparing the classic Cajun dish jambalaya.

Briefless

For the Anonymous Law Student

With skin sunkissed uniformly and true
Blond hair sunbleached here and there, this guy sports
Dark glasses at night but omits the shorts,
Playing peekaboo making law review.
By feigning haughtiness he gets away
From raucous music with pouts and poses.
Toying with his zipper, he deposes
Me on the plea nolo contendere

When I'm asked if I intend any civil
Trespass on his person. I pay the fine
By slipping him a tip and thus resign
My suit, settling out of court with drivel
Concocted in tribute to cocky grace
Just so I'm there as he wins his first case.

The subject of this poem gave up performing after his first year in law school. He has completed law school now and is a member of the State Bar in California, where he practices transactional entertainment law. In his dancing days he restricted himself to the smaller bars to maintain a low profile. But he asked the poet to revise an earlier version of this poem so that it would make mention of his flirtatious zipper play. He has run the New York City Marathon.

Turnover

For Gregory Vincent

From rolling around on the little stage
At King, the dancer in the rude crew cut
Gets all smudged up and a black-and-blue butt.
When body dancing fails to engage
The disdainful bar flies, he tries head stand.
This new contortion also cuts no ice
With the other guys, but his strange device
Gets a rise out of me. About to hand

Him a tip, I sense he's going to crash:
I hear him squeak out, "Help me!" and fear
He'll fall and hurt himself. Although I'm near
Enough to do all Gregory's bidding,
With equilibrium he takes the cash
AndÐsmiling sheepishly—says, "Just kidding!"

Gregory is an actor, model, dancer, bartender, and photographer. A Calvin Klein model, Gregory has also been on the cover of Männer aktuell, HX, and Next. His favorite photographer is Robert Irwin (who did the Vice cover). His agents are Rage (body), Parts (commercial), and Cunningham (fashion). When it is pointed out to him one night that loose strands of elastic are dangling from his jock strap (he wears a child's size for a snug fit), he asks for matches and burns off the big offender, saying of the little ones, however, "I'll leave those for a complete jockstrap overhaul tomorrow." Visit his website www.gregorynyc.com/.

X-Ray Vision

For Michael D.

Michael repairs x-ray machines and likes
Anything that has some electronic
Component. Making his near bionic
Pecs dance along with the music, he strikes
Poses with fingertips just touching hips.
Or, rooted in place, he makes body waves
And shadow boxes. With long legs he grips
Your chest with the strength of a vice and paves

The way for entrance to your fantasy.
While I reach underneath to get a buzz,
Feeling up hard globes with their golden fuzz,
Michael's x-ray vision shoots right through me:
"I'd be tighter," he says, all submission,
"In a slightly less awkward position."

Michael is an x-ray machine repair technician. He likes muscles. He began working as a go-go boy because, as he explains, "I flex a lot at the gym. I might as well get paid for it. And men are more appreciative."

Rubber Ducky

For Chris M.

Wearing a tiny rubber dance costume
Recycled from an old inner tube, Chris
With his small frame and big-eyed look of bliss
Stirs even all the young guys in the room
To a frenzy of daddy devotion.
"Some day I'll sail clear across the ocean!"
He vows. "And say in the poem I played
Football in my college days." I'm dismayed:

As Aristotle was first to construe,
The truth leads poetry into muddles
Unless there's some probability too.
I fear inner tube adrift on the blue—
Refuse to believe those football huddles.
He's just a baby and still needs cuddles!

Chris was a biology major at Pace University, where he did, in fact, play football for the Setters. "But," he says, "the weight of the bigger guys was too much. I was doing pretty good and scoring touchdowns, but it started to hurt." Chris has done televisionÐsoaps and Sex and the City—and off Broadway—Ronnie Larsen's All-Male Peep Show. He was also in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown. As Rick Darius, he has been photographed by Terry Studio for Torso and Playguy and by Daniel Perry for the cover of the June 1997 Playguy. His first major solo adventure on his sailboat The Salty Dog was cut short when he fell asleep and ran aground on a reef.