The sauna is visible
from the swimming pool
allowing me to monitor
the comings and goings

the comings dry up
the last person leaves
I give it ten minutes
just to be sure

my senses are overwhelmed
the steamy haze
the smell of cedar
the thick, dense heat

perfect
except for the man that sits
just inside the glass door
hunched over, head down

a big man, burly
who did not enter on my watch
who must have been sitting there
for half an hour, at least

who starts talking, immediately
there were no gays or lesbians in my day
I’m sixty-four and we didn’t know a thing about them
as true as God, there were no gays or lesbians in my day
there was a girl on our road

she was a lesbian
but we didn’t know
my friend, his daughter is a lesbian
I remember when he told me

he thought she had got a new job
he thought it was a job
I’m sixty-four and I will tell you
the climate is fucked, it is fucked

it’s all our own fault too
maybe we deserve it, and
don’t get me started on immigrants
send them back to where they came from, every last one of them

that’s the thing about people
they are absolutely everywhere