Author: David Matthew Barnes

Installment 44 evokes landscapes of isolation and secrecy: queer kids driving under the radar, forced outside of the lines.  David-Matthew Barnes makes every word and line matter, conjuring rich life worlds with his concise simplicity. *** Used Cars Once we were kicked out of our shared room in the boarding house, we slept in a car for a month. We panhandled at gas stations, scraping together a first month’s rent and deposit. Not knowing about things like credit checks, applications, family trips. We saw the children of the people who gave us change, scared by our sorrow and what they also might become, if disowned. We taught so many to behave, silently. We learned how to keep warm and find love in words. We got to know parking lots well. Some were safer than others. Some were killing grounds for the queer kids like us. This was before we were cool. This was before we were legal. This was when we only had backseats, each other. It was so easy to pretend we never existed because nobody asked our names. Yes, some of us would be dead within five years, while the rest of us never spoke again. *** Photo © Matthew Friedman...