Explodingly Yours by Chen Chen

MY BOYFRIEND & I HAVE A CRUSH on a guy who’s greatat being shirtless & sometimes pantsless online, who has a large pet bird, a cockatiel I think, in which case yes, “cock”is in the name, but it’s a very pet bird-looking bird, who started out as a recurring guest star on his bare shoulder, & then was promoted, just recently, to series regular, to every last tanned moment, to my vexed sigh & my boyfriend’s Oh that fucking bird again—& then, well, the lovely dearth of clothing largely evens things out for me, though not for my boyfriend, who has developed an anti-crush on the cockatiel that’s spilling over onto the cocky owner,but still there was last Wednesday, last Wednesday 4 p.m. when he posted one thoroughly glorious pic—shirtless, pantsless, & birdless—& immediately I texted it to my boyfriend, Have you seen this yet, & he texted back, Mm I have now, & in that Mm, that moment, we were once again drooling, dreamingtogether, & didn’t Hemingway say all you have to do is write one true sentence, the truest?