Handsome Monster
by Joyce Mansour
Published in
1 min readOct 19, 2015
Sickness with its floating moustache
Hovers over me
Each time my eyes meet under the table
Its long musical hand
Stuffs itself between my breasts
And strangles my abscess
In an egg
My nose runs like a sewer
My hair falls with sadness
And the stinking smell of voluntary humiliations
Torments me
My legs fly higher and higher
Open shells smooth fur
Inviting tender mouths
Scissors sea-horses with voracious claws
Share their delights
Their smiles their clothing
And their childhood pimples
Suppurating
Originally published (with accompanying essay) at blog.bestamericanpoetry.com on November 12, 2012.
Mansour’s poems and prose in English are available in this collection from Black Widow Books, translated by Serge Gravonsky.
