At a gay club in the ’90s, I compete for attention with lighter-skinned men — and confront years of internalized racism — My erection is pressing against the zip fly of my jeans. They’re JNCO jeans. Everybody’s wearing them but, if I’m honest, I think they look silly. They have wide, flared legs — you know, for dancing. The legs are so wide they cover your shoes, and God help you if…

My white friend Vicki let me live vicariously through her — until she didn’t — I kicked a little white girl in the head. Her name was Kendra and we were in kindergarten, playing a game of Red Rover in an effort to learn each other’s names. I wanted to make a big splash. The other side joined hands, and as the teacher led everyone…

It was my first foray into the world of group sex — and I was completely unprepared — Only two things in life show you who you really are: war and public sex. I know nothing of war aside from images of desperate men locked in combat or wandering the battlefield, exposed and vulnerable. I know perhaps too much about public sex. When I say “public,” I’m not…

As a practice patient for doctor’s assistants, I humiliate myself for the chance to see you again — This one is pulling my pubes. It hurts, like she’s stabbing my crotch with tiny needles, but I try not to let it show. This room is too bright but I stare straight up into the light on the ceiling anyway. Now she’s tearing at my pubic hair like she’s…