s w i f t s  &  s l o w s: a quarterly of crisscrossings

The Beast of Hunger
Sunah Nash & L’hussen De Kolia Touré

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Eating an Entire Box of Dominoes while Netflixing American Horror Story

for Michael

some men move through the day without food in their bellies / so until their mouths are full of
salt / they deride / feed spit to a wrathful monster within them / I look like a man / I should be /
as unforgiving / as unconquerable / to myself / I should satisfy this belly, as wanting as a pair of
dehydrated lips / in the empty house / unwinds, rests a slow buzz in my ear / taunting / here /
here / space to break / to form raucous worth worship / a box of cold pizza crawls into my arms /
each limb / skinny / shaved down / like graphite sliced too thin / each of my garments silenced /
knotted on the floor / this body will bloat / I command / as the Netflix logo blooms / chicken
wedge / barbecue sauce / crust / crust / Kai is a chauvinist / crunch / HAH / HAH / knife gasp /
blood belch / swallow / burp smooth / paced breath / I need some coffee / mm / he killed without
caring / chew / garlic / crust / garlic / garlic / like a serial killer / cough / the attention whore /
epiglottis / I almost— / I almost died / he was right there the whole time / I reach into an empty
box / damn / I wanted more / I bet that I could now take the entire world into my jaw / a man /
this chair too / unrepentantly / without even watching my hands / I can fit fun words into my
mouth / like love / ventriloquism / or cock / like they are edible / the Netflix episode zips itself
close like it knows a secret / I look at my right hand / coarse with bread crumbs / my lips tighten
around my left thumb / my tongue licks it clean / I suck it / numb / soggy / Yes / Yes / this is
how this body excretes shame / this is how this body chews up the body

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