by Danez Smith
Share
i.
two boys are in bed on a Tuesday afternoon & neither knows the other’s name for they just met this morning on their phones & were 1.2 miles from each other, they lay & one boy reaches his bare hand inside the other, pulls out a parade of fantastic beasts: lions with housefly wings, fish who thrive in boiling water, horses who’ve learned to sleep while running. he pulls out the beasts, one by one, until all the magic is gone & the gutted boy turns into a pig. the pig boy & the boy spend a day with no language & the boy, hearing no protest, splits the pig open & crawls right in, & the pig, not one to protest, divides in half & lets the boy think he split him. when they’re finished, they dress & part & never forget what happened. how can they? the boy’s still covered in pig’s blood, the pig’s still split.
two boys are in bed on a Tuesday afternoon & neither knows the other’s name for they just met this morning on their phones & were 1.2 miles from each other, they lay & one boy reaches his bare hand inside the other, pulls out a parade of fantastic beasts: lions with housefly wings, fish who thrive in boiling water, horses who’ve learned to sleep while running. he pulls out the beasts, one by one, until all the magic is gone & the gutted boy turns into a pig. the pig boy & the boy spend a day with no language & the boy, hearing no protest, splits the pig open & crawls right in, & the pig, not one to protest, divides in half & lets the boy think he split him. when they’re finished, they dress & part & never forget what happened. how can they? the boy’s still covered in pig’s blood, the pig’s still split.
ii.
the god of shovels visits the god of dirt. obvious things happen. in the hole made out of the god of dirt, the god of shovels places a red flower given to him by the god of shadows. it’s not until the god of shovels is leaving that the dirt god notices the shovel god’s back covered in red, honeyhot thorns, then looks at his thighs & sees the ruby tongues sprouting
the god of shovels visits the god of dirt. obvious things happen. in the hole made out of the god of dirt, the god of shovels places a red flower given to him by the god of shadows. it’s not until the god of shovels is leaving that the dirt god notices the shovel god’s back covered in red, honeyhot thorns, then looks at his thighs & sees the ruby tongues sprouting