STIRRING
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
NIC PORTARO
We’re watching the game, my father and I,
a bowl of salad in my lap and him on the edge of his seat,
I can see Barbara Kruger’s collage in my mind’s eye,
you construct intricate rituals which allow you to touch the skin of other men,
while these big, sweating men slam their bodies against each other,
grabbing and panting and grunting on chemically grown grass.
An old therapist once suggested that the reason
my father struggled when I came out
was because he must have watched lesbian porn
and couldn’t separate me from the films.
With my hands tucked under my thighs on the scratchy gray couch
I thought, I really don’t think that’s it.
Nic Portaro is a queer poet with fellowship from the Lambda Literary Foundation and the Wheeler Centre. Nic has work featured in journals such as Muzzle Magazine, the Paris American, decomP, BOAAT, Crab Fat and others. Originally from California, they currently live on unceded Wurundjeri land in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia).
