Men Seeking Men: Personal Ads
1. Am I Asking for Too Much? Mind reader wanted. You’ll predict my needs before I speak them. You’ll be trauma-free, debt-free, and full of surprises. Me: high-functioning control freak with Louis Vuitton emotional baggage and a weak spot for programmable robots. Applicants must be blank slates eager to be rewritten. If you’ve ever rebooted your soul, we might be compatible. Upgrades encouraged. No messy backstories. 2. Party Time Hi. I’m charming. Addictive. A total nightmare. Looking for someone with soft eyes, a soft job, and a soft spine. If you earn enough, you won’t notice when I blow it on booze. When I’m angry, I won’t punch— I’ll hold you down just enough to remind you I could. Bonus points if the smell of weed and gym socks turns you on. If I threaten to jump off a roof, you’ll just know I need a hug. 3. Commitment ISO partner to cheat on, regularly. You’ll find texts. I’ll lie. You’ll cry. I’ll say, “You’re right. I’m sorry.” And you’ll forgive me. We’ll hold each other tighter like people who know this is doomed. I’m fair— you can cheat too. Just don’t be obvious. Let’s destroy each other sweetly, while sipping turmeric lattes and planning our wedding. Monogamish. But mostly not. 4. Confident & Mature Me: 42, emotionally asthmatic. You: 60s, stylish, unattached, perfect on paper, terrified of real closeness. Let’s meet. Pretend we’re versions of ourselves we admire. Let’s charm each other into thinking this might work. Later, when you flirt with the bartender, I’ll smile like it doesn’t gut me. I’ll excuse myself with grace, touch both your elbows gently, and say, “I’ll leave you two to talk.” Your line is: “No. Don’t go.” Say it. Please. Say it like you mean it. So I can walk away anyway and replay the scene for the rest of my life. Originally published by Assaracus
Audio: José Enrique Medina reads “Men Seeking Men: Personal Ads”
José Enrique Medina is a queer Chicano poet, playwright, and novelist. His debut poetry collection, Only the Dead Let Me Talk This Much, won the 2026 Lambda Literary J. Michael Samuel Prize. His chapbook Haunt Me won the 2025 Rattle Chapbook Prize, and Man Without a Skirt was selected by Ellen Bass as the runner-up for the 2025 Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Prize. His work has appeared in USA Today Hispanic Living Magazine, Los Angeles Review, Best Microfiction 2019, and elsewhere. A VONA fellow, he is the founder of the Chickens & Poetry Residency for Writers.