Road faggots of Britain

God, you must be a couple of pansies.
            --  Wilfrid Thesiger, to Eric Newby and friend


traversing Sind
to the male brothels
of Karachi, the young
Sir Richard Burton
makes up his mind
to embark upon a life
of desparate adventure

silver stars sweep
the coal black skies
above the Arabian desert:
on the march to Aqaba
Colonel Lawrence shivers
and pulls the blankets
tight around himself
and his servant boy, Ali

on a dusty roadside
somewhere in Oxiana
Robert Byron observes
enraptured a dozen
half-naked Afghanis
gathered to hoist
his busted truck

deeply penetrating
the iron hills of
Abyssinia, Wilfrid
Thesiger bravely
advances his deviant
interest in the secret
tribal rites of adult
male circumcision

road faggots of Britain,
crossing the godless
wastes of anal desire
we share your numerous
erections and follow you on
toward queer horizons

 

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