I’ll pretty up the anger
& start with: I’m sorry.
I’m sorry for causing the market crash,
for shorting the stock
of 'no homo' economicus:
sentiment over value.
Money over matter.
Mind over me.
You forget
how your watching adjusts
this hysteria, I am forced to self-diagnose—
be it my death
or the invention of it.
Like the patient whose chest
I pumped to pulp,
trying to punch a rhythm
into a heart divorced
from the guarantee of a functional sinus node.
Can you see how my apex beat displaces
when you bid
on that male body?
Is my starving frame
not man enough?
Answer that.
Then we can talk about why—
we don’t fuck anymore.
Sheridan Walter
Sheridan Walter (he/they) is a queer South African post-production story editor, medical writer, and doctor with a master’s degree in philosophy. He lives in Cape Town. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Foglifter, AC/DC, Rogue Agent, Fruit Journal, New Verse News, and Double Dutch Magazine.