how thinly you can slice
each slice, filet the filet
chef tony used to say on
an infomercial for knives, 
slicing the skin off a tomato
then slicing even closer to
the skin, getting one fish-
colored strip off, holding
it up for the audience to see
through, to ooh about. with
her it didn’t count because
neither of us came or really
meant to; with him it didn’t
count because we both kept
at least most of our clothes
on; with her it didn’t count
because i was blackout; with
him it didn’t count because
he kept saying i’m your first, 
huh, your real first and he
seemed to like that idea
too much, liked asking
like i was dumb, where
are you going? like he
was correcting when i
wriggled up on his bed
instead of down toward
him or toward the edge.

Laura Brun is a poet from small-town Kentucky who lives and writes in Pittsburgh. She works at the Carnegie Museums and her first chapbook, It’s Alright to Be Seen, is out now from Dancing Girl Press. Her other work is found or forthcoming in Lambda Literary’s Poetry Spotlight, Jellyfish Magazine, Selfish, and others. You can find more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram at laurabrrrrun.