Published in Human Parts·Oct 29, 2021Member-onlyAn Incomplete List of Foods Served in My House Growing UpLike Krispy Kreme doughnuts my dad would smuggle past my mom — Hot Dogs And Beans. Tuna Noodle Casserole. Johnny Marzetti Also Known As American Chop Suey. Scrambled Eggs In The Microwave. Boston Market Rotisserie Chicken, A Bone Of Which My Dad Once Had To Heimlich Maneuver Out Of My Friend Mike Brosius’s Mouth To Save His Life. Berries Jubilee. Mocha Chip…Lists2 min readLists2 min read
Published in Human Parts·Oct 25, 2021Member-onlyHow It Feels When I See You AgainLike you’re dressed as you for Halloween. — Like starting a new season of a TV show, where your favorite character has a different haircut. Like you’re Mary-Kate dressed as Ashley. Like you got a tattoo of your face… over your face. Like seeing your third-grade teacher in tennis shoes. Like seeing your doctor in falsies. Like seeing…Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
Published in Human Parts·Oct 14, 2021Member-onlyRough Drafts of My New BioBen Kassoy (he/him) is… — Ben Kassoy (he/him) is a payphone that rings. Ben Kassoy (he/him) is a cartographer in a coma, psychokinetically mapping underwater worlds, waiting for someone to one day discover his sunken cities. Ben Kassoy (he/him) is having three vertebrae removed so he can put his ear right up to his chest…Bio2 min readBio2 min read
Published in Human Parts·Oct 11, 2021Member-onlyMy Mom Offers to Send Me My Grandfather’s Poetry“Some of it is pretty dark,” she warns. — “I found some of Papa’s poetry,” she tells me on the phone. “I didn’t know Papa wrote poetry.” “Me neither. I just have to warn you, it’s pretty dark. Do you want me to send it?” I’d read some of his writing before — Germany, 1944: the fire. He told…Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
Sep 30, 2021Member-onlyLet Me Begin AgainAs an octopus or a queen — (After “Let Me Begin Again” by Major Jackson) Let me begin again, steadfast and regal like a queen, adorned in an electric octopus gown, deep-sea purple and glowing like the sound of a harp-led orchestra scoring thousands of celestial slot machines in heaven’s casino. Let me begin again with the…Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
Published in Human Parts·Sep 24, 2021Member-onlyWhen Mom Served RaspberriesImaginations ran wild — My mom was all about healthy snacks but knew enough about branding not to call them “healthy snacks” so she’d just ask if we wanted “something to eat.” A lot of our household items felt either like sentimental family heirlooms or like timeless, origin-less utilitarian practicalities that had always been…Poetry3 min readPoetry3 min read
Published in Human Parts·Sep 21, 2021Member-onlyOde To My Childhood Alter-EgoHis name was Adrion Skot — I go back to my room in my parents’ house and on the bed my mom has laid out a set of dance belts — tiny beige thongs I had to wear under my ballet tights as a kid, designed to support my curious and newly sentient genitals. A name…Childhood2 min readChildhood2 min read
Published in Human Parts·Sep 13, 2021Member-onlyThoughts I Have While Looking at the Freckle on the Back of Your EarI just noticed it — My fingers are a dune buggy race down the endless sands of your back, and then they’re a squadron of submarines descending through the uncharted depths of your hair to your very top’s very bottom. And after so many years mapping your body and its complex topographies, I spy a…Romance2 min readRomance2 min read
Published in Human Parts·Aug 30, 2021Member-onlyRemembering YouFeels like this — Remembering you is like the time I went to the mansion of a widow who, until the day she died, kept building and building and building additions to her massive pathological hideaway, like a door that opens to a twenty-foot drop or a stairway directly into a ceiling. …Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
Published in Human Parts·Aug 23, 2021Member-onlyTimes I Thought To Myself: “I’m Going to Marry This Girl”(And then what actually happened) — Whenever my friend goes on a first date he texts me I’m going to marry this girl just so he’ll have the receipts in case he’s ever right. And I think about all the different times, in all the different relationships, that I thought the same. Like when I got…Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
