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I Pity the Fool

For P.




     Written by Jessica Rowshandel 
     Illustrated by Tosin Akinkunmi 

     Est. Reading Time: 1 min 





My bad posture –
You held my dead snake body
draped in your palm like old Speedos.

The attitude of your gait, however -- a wrestler announced,
the man who catapults another man over the ropes
and takes the championship belt

I took the mic and ranted
You ranted with me.
No one ever rants with me.
You didn't cower, you rose
my fist in yours, the championship was ours.

I hummed the A-Team theme song
I sang the A-Team theme song
I shouted the A-Team theme song
the more sure I got of you
We got matching Mr. T's
Mandinka-style haircut
because we got free & with good posture
the snake tongued its body through the tall grass



 


--

Published July 5, 2024
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.





Author’s Bio
Jessica Rowshandel (they/them) is a queer Afro-Taíno Puerto Rican + Persian writer, visual artist, and musician. Their creative writing has been published in Fever Spores: The Queer Reclamation of William S. Burroughs, Mid-Level Management Literary Magazine, beestung, Bizarrchitecture, and others. 

︎jessicarowshandel.com


Artist’s Bio
Tosin is a Nigerian and Grenadian British illustrator based in London, England. They love creating bold and striking artwork using colour, contrast shape and texture. When they're not drawing, you can often find them scribbling away on my iPad in bed or in the depths of a video essay (probably both!).

︎ @artbytosin ︎azizaillustrates.com




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