“That kind of pussy” (for men only) [by Nin Andrews]

More Beach Reading for Men Only

 

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Submit to: Esquire. David Granger, Editor. 300 W. 57th Street, New York, NY 10019

Theme: Beach Reading. ONLY male writers. MUST BE timely and about sports, politics, or current events.
Type: Short stories, essays, and articles (5,000 words MAX).

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Oh you know, Judy was saying.
Men always talk like that.
Like what? Sal asked.
They say things and write things
differently than we do.
Like in Esquire.
But Sal didn't know.
She had always thought men said
sexy words, like pussy, for example,
but her Bob never said pussy
aloud.  He never wrote it either.
Maybe he thought it.
Maybe he said it
when she wasn't listening
(which was often enough.
I mean, they'd been married
for some time now.)
But she would have heard "pussy."

Though maybe he could at least
read the word, pussy.  Yes, he could
read it at the beach in Esquire Magazine
when he knew it was written
by a man, said by a man
as only a man could say it.

And yes, Sal, thought, pussy
in a man's words is different.
And in a man's lips
and tongue and fingers . . . 
That kind of pussy.
And later she typed it out
and then she read it
as if she were he
and he was reading it at the beach
as if it were his pussy, yes,
his own beach pussy.
Such a timely sporty little thing.

 

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Nin Andrews