friends asked for my horror stories. I said my scariest customers were four young
republican lawyers, drunk from a long day of golf. pickup at pine brook country club,
heading home to newton highlands. the one guy looking at the back of my head had
ordered the car. each of his three buds stumbled across their green lawns to kiss their
wives with reeking breath. after they left, my customer said, my friends are not bad
guys, which told me he thought they were real assholes. he was sorry they talked
about golf vs. tennis & which was a real man’s sport. I said golf is not the most
important thing in life, but there are worse things you could say in someone’s back
seat. very level-headed of you, he said, I like you, I’d back you for congress. then he
asked what I thought of the gun debate. I knew not to answer. uber driver training
was only a nine-minute youtube vid, but it distinctly said, never venture into politics
or religion. instead, I steered the conversation to where we grew up, & that’s how we
realized that will and I went to the same college, him two years behind me. he was
the one who hosted a foursome once at his dorm, all guys, & I left in the middle. I
wanted the hot one for myself. the other two were boring. I had encountered will
one other time, in the basement restroom of the research library. there was I, hard in
his soft cheeks, holding his pierced ears, giving him the rhythm, his small, toothy
mouth not doing a great job. but he was really trying.
Anthony DiPietro is a gay Rhode Island native who has worked in community-based organizations for 14 years. In 2016, he joined Stony Brook University, where he earned a creative writing MFA, taught college courses, and planned and diversified arts programming. He is now associate director of the Rose Art Museum in Waltham, Massachusetts. A graduate of Brown University with honors in creative writing, his poems and essays have appeared in Notre Dame Review, Spillway, Washington Square Review, and others. He has been a finalist with Coal Hill Review, Naugatuck River Review, and The Tishman Review and has received fellowships from Aspen Summer Words, The Frost Place, and Key West Literary Seminars. His website is AnthonyWriter.com.