During the 1962-3 school year at UW-Madison, men suspected or accused of being gay were contacted by the Department of Protection and Security, charged with homosexual conduct, questioned and threatened with suspension, expulsion, and criminal charges.
Tell me about the man who stole you.
Tell me about your thief.
Did he decode you like a ring
Or insist your skin held Braille
If you would please let him read?
Did he fill your head with sinister thoughts
Of a twisted misogyny--
Or just fill you with vaseline?
Tell me about the man who scammed you
Tell me about his deceit
Did he fill you with fictions
Addictions and visions
Of a manly hyperbole?
Did he want to keep things clean--
Or were you his latrine?
Tell me about the man who sacrificed you.
Tell me about your idolatry.
Late at night, before you went to sleep
Did he turn your heavenly prayers
Into something sin-filled and obscene?
Are you infected with plagues
More dangerous than any disease?
Was he your vaccine?
Tell me about the man who scored you.
Tell me about your athlete
Did he force you to your knees?
Did he turn you from a golden boy
Into a golden shower queen?
Were you once a solid oil painting
But now a watercolor scene?
Was he bedeviling?
Tell me.
