In love with
You played Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga
on vinyl, because it was on trend again, and not just for our dads,
and we thought it was cool to know all the words to Judas,
because we’d studied theology and we had PhDs.
And we danced together in a way that was definitely not queer
while our boyfriends smoked in the garden.
We pretended to be adults, feeling like we were children,
but knowing that we were adults, and in the morning it would matter.
And we didn’t know the words then, not the words we knew later,
only the words to the song, so we just sang to each other
still in love with Judas. Judas.
It would be years before I kissed you, and by then it would all be far too late.
Clare M Coombe (she/her) is a queer feminist writer of poetry and fiction, with a particular interest in mythology and the body. She lives in Kent, UK, with two cats, two rabbits, and a miniature dachshund called Gatsby. Twitter: @claremcoomb