“The Boys” by Diem Chau

After Watching 10 Things I Hate About You, Echo Writes Narcissus

a Poem in the Vein of Julia Stiles

by D. Gilson and Will Stockton

I hate the way you talk to me,
and the way you tell me I’m poor.

I hate the way you roll your eyes,
but not that you’re a voyeur.

I hate that you’d like to walk me
through a field of wildflowers
and then check my legs,
	my ears, my ass, for ticks.

I hate the way you LOLz at me,
how you always say, Don’t know, don’t care.

I hate that you tell me to read Othello
when I want to read Midsummer Night’s.

        	That I want to rename you
        	Demetrius. That I want to say,

        	I am your spaniel, and, Demetrius,
        	the more you beat me I will fawn on you.

I hate that I fawn on you.
That I fawn.

Okay, let’s tell it slant—grant me this,
        	I don’t hate you, but I know
        	you like to play the hater.

I hate that I only make passes
at boys who wear glasses.

        	I hate that you don’t like to wear
        	your glasses.

	In the bathhouse, I hate
	how my glasses fog with steam.
	I hate mine eyes, which have seen
			the coming
		of the glory of The Lord.

Confession: I hate your obsession
with Brad Paisley
        	and I hope it’s ironic.
        	        	Okay, confession:
I don’t hate that.
        	Or you.
        	Not even a little bit.
        	        	Not even at all.

about D. Gilson and Will Stockton

Will Stockton is associate professor of English at Clemson University and editor of Upstart: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies. He is the author of Playing Dirty: Sexuality and Waste in Early Modern Comedy (University of Minnesota Press, 2011) and co-editor of Sex before Sex: Figuring the Act in Early Modern England (University of Minnesota Press, 2012) and Queer Renaissance Historiography: Backward Gaze (Ashgate, 2009). D. Gilson holds an MFA from Chatham University and is a PhD student in American Literature & Culture at George Washington University. His two chapbooks include Catch & Release, winner of the Robin Becker Prize from Seven Kitchens, and Brit Lit, forthcoming from Sibling Rivalry. His work has appeared in The Indiana Review, The Rumpus, Assaracus, The Los Angeles Review, PANK, and elsewhere.