{"id":2938,"date":"2022-01-03T14:10:55","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T22:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/?p=2938"},"modified":"2024-11-27T09:48:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T17:48:14","slug":"when-i-am-a-teenage-boy-by-erin-belieu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/when-i-am-a-teenage-boy-by-erin-belieu\/","title":{"rendered":"“When I Am a Teenage Boy” by Erin Belieu"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"80\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Found in\u00a0Willow Springs 80<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Author Profile<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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“When I Am a Teenage Boy” by Erin Belieu<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

I am like my parents’ house, in a state<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of constant remodel we can ill afford,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the noise behind a tarp producing little more<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

than dust. But the footprint must change<\/p>\n\n\n\n

despite great expense. Large parts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

need to move for the sake of flow. <\/em>I learn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the trick is to appear intact, though recently<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the problem of my torso is introduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mother says I’ve always been a little<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jew around the waist. She had specific<\/p>\n\n\n\n

hopes, shelled out for the stag tuxedo suit,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sent me for cotillion lessons. Mind like<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a boardwalk jewelry store, heyday 1962,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she wears her hostess gown in the kitchen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

while I creak along with the crock pot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

pulverizing our Sunday stew. Because<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m an only, she put a TV in my room<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for company. It’s a solid business, taping cable<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

porn to VHS. But when I’m caught extorting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the gym coach, meds are discussed at school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mother says we don’t do meds,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

my dad and me. And I’m not caught often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who would I be without this brain that itches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

like the dragonflies I hose from the pool’s filter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, I take myself in hand. I buy a trench<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with birthday money sent by a childless aunt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we thought dead years ago. We don’t use<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the word “lesbian” because my mother says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who says that sort of thing? <\/em>I perform my coat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

darkly in a graveyard split by an interstate where<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

our housekeeper’s son is housed. Here, I feel most<\/p>\n\n\n\n

vivid, futurely, Peter Parker praying for his spider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, I am replete with plans. I’ll be like that prince<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the novel I didn’t read in English class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t finish books, but I get the gist-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

some sad lady who offs herself by train. Ballroom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unpronounceable Russians suffering. Blah blah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that guy Stiva eating his sausages? Someday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll have a faithful servant, too. Or at least a wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fear I’ll always be a little piggy in the middle,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but that grease I’ll lick from my fingers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

it tastes like everything now.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":25234,"featured_media":2796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2938"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37181,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938\/revisions\/37181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}