Fen Carter
We’ve seen it all before. We know the story: you’ve
brought him to a Place Called Home and tear out his
hair to save your own, tear off your second skin with
his, bite his neck to flirt with his jugular. Maybe if
you follow through, your reason will be scrawled
across his body. You search for it knowing it won’t.
There is no deviance planned and unexpected that
the suits allow: here’s three outfits to last you a
week, two months, the rest of your life in skin that
feels like somebody else’s. There is no Body but the
One Outside and you carry it wide and hulking. No
room big enough for your heart.
It’s enough to make you call the whole thing off.
But isn’t this just made for you? The air through the
window is cool and earthy. Isn’t it nice to be handled
so gently, have his hands dragged over the canyons
of your skin?
Why shouldn’t these things come in multiples?
42
56
60 even
your brain is turning you inside out.
It’s not enough to stay, not enough not to
stay.
You’re so ambivalent about the whole thing; unsure
if its worth it enough to follow through, or put the
effort in to stop-
So really you’re right in the end, he is a punching
bag, he might get something out of it. You’re
screaming into his mouth and hope that he will pull
the sound (whole) out of yours, or bite off your
tongue, it’s the least he could do.
After all you’ve had your fun, and so return to the
glasshouse. The air is recycled through a hundred
rooms, a thousand vents, the lungs of people
clamouring over each other’s corpses to prove their
own importance.
Welcome to the second skin. It never left you. Now
get back in.
Fen Carter is a writer of poetry, plays, screenplays, books, and is occasionally a podcast host. They are never found without a cup of tea in their hand and a fountain pen in their hair.
Steph Blinco is a third-year Bachelor of Fine Arts student. As a local Brisbane emerging artist, her practice makes statements about everyday life through collaged imagery. Intertwining psychedelic patterns to create collisions of colour and era, Steph draws influences from autobiographical contexts, ranging from her childhood to her experiences now as a young adult. You can find her on Instagram @stephblincoart.