Tell Me What You Know About Dismemberment *
Every time she describes her pain, an entire layer of skin peels off my body.
Every time she tells me about the knife that slices her open, her talking mouth swallows me whole.
Silently, I travel through her digestive tract, waiting to be expelled.
Beneath my skin lies something magical—my will.
It was not a god or a genie that granted my wish.It was a teenage girl
whose body was filled with a fierce desire to do what she wanted.
Which was to get as far away as she could from the female body in pain.
So it came as a complete surprise to discover that her dismembered body had tucked itself into my suitcase; wrapped in a large white comforter, hidden amidst goose feathers and down.
It wasn’t until I unpacked that I found the stowaway.
To survive, I created my own Witness Protection program.Without anyone’s help,
I gave myself a new name, a new home. Please don’t tell her how to find me.
* This question comes from Bhanu Kapil’s book The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers (Kelsey St. Press, 2001) The book is structured around the responses to twelve questions. Bhanu encouraged me to give responding a try. And so I am.