C37
Collective Memory
Excerpt from novella: the mosquito says to the leaf, “am i in a trap?”

being stung feels like

being tickled from the inside
with laughter always brimming
and grateful tears just wating at the duct.

because of the empiracle benefits
mosquito saliva has in communication,
being stung with someone else
allows you to know them inherently
as though another hemisphere of the same mind.
your conversations are surprising because there is this
shared wavelength
telekinetic, almost,
hivelike, maybe.

so it follows that sex while stung
is above any experience you will yet have felt.
a common description of mosquito sex
(as it is colloquially refferred) is that the participants
“forget whose body belongs to whom.”

all of the above considered
it is no wonder so many people choose to partake
knowing full well the severity
of the itch that follows the sting.

Samson Manoah