Boy Oh Boy Read online

  Boyfriends sleep two and three to a bed, dozens on the floors, on the kitchen table, on the couch, on the bathroom counter, squeezed into the tub. Every day it seems like there’s a new boyfriend and he has to sleep on a windowsill or in an empty hutch.

  Boyfriends perch on the power lines and boyfriends sit on every inch of every rooftop. On a nice day, their blonde hair catches the sunlight and it looks like every roof is shingled with gold. On rainy days, their hair darkens and their white shirts cling to their backs and chests.

  The roofs have begun to sag with the weight of the boyfriends, the support beams crack, wood floors have started to buckle. The damage caused by the boyfriends is structural. The buildings slump to the ground. Everywhere the boyfriends are too much weight pressing down on the houses, the General Store, the Bank, the Laundromat, the Taqueria. Out on the edge of town you are bow-legged with the strain of it.

  You are waiting for a foundation to crack.

  Note

  On behalf of Zachary Doss, we would like to express our gratitude:

  To the magazines and editors who published his writing.

  To the AWP Award Series and Kelly Link for selecting Boy Oh Boy and to the team at Red Hen Press for their work in editing, publishing, and promoting this book.

  For time, space, and support: the University of Southern California and the University of Alabama.

  To teachers and mentors at these universities and beyond. To friends and supporters too numerous to attempt listing, lest we leave someone out. Zachary held so many people in his heart and your support and kindness were deeply felt.

  Most of all, thanks to his family Susan, Alan, Cody, and Jacob, who provided love and support throughout his journey.

  Biographical note

  Zachary Doss was a writer and editor whose work appeared in Sonora Review, Fourteen Hills, Fairy Tale Review, Caketrain, DIAGRAM, Paper Darts, and other journals. His short story “Bespoke” was the winner of the 2016 Puerto del Sol Short Fiction Contest. He held an MFA in creative writing from the University of Alabama, where he taught composition and rhetoric, literature, and creative writing. He was also pursuing a PhD in creative writing and literature at the University of Southern California at the time of his death.