This week’s poem, by Michael Colbert, offers a reminiscence back to a young gay man’s dreams of magazine honeymoons and the cultural acceptance — and self-acceptance — of his sexuality. I love this poem’s references to tangible details and cultural touchstones, like manicures and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” and the tender understanding with which the speaker looks back at his younger self. 

Colbert is a gay writer based in Portland and a Tin House Summer Workshop alum with an MFA from UNCW. His writing appears in One Story, Esquire, and NYLON, among others. He is the founding editor of The Rejoinder.

Honeymoons

In college I was an unpaid intern
which had benefits
like getting a manicure
so they could use my hand
as a model,
and writing about honeymoons
for the bridal magazine.

I was a dreamer,
always going on honeymoons––
Queenstown, Bora Bora––
with the men I
never let myself be with,

Sabrina the Teenage Witch
leaving her affianced at the altar
to hop on Harvey’s bike
tulle and lace billowing
into the series finale,
black screen.
Easier to write about it
than to leap.

— Michael Colbert

Megan Grumbling is a poet and writer who lives in Portland. Deep Water: Maine Poems is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. “Honeymoons” ©2025 by Michael Colbert. Reprinted from takahe magazine and “Bottle Episodes” (Bottlecap Press, 2025) by permission of Michael Colbert.