Ryan Dull
Could This Be Flesh
It was over sixty degrees and the streets were filled with slush the day the man with the rapacious heart fell madly in lust with the woman with the enormous bag. He first saw the bag exiting a taxi cab and he followed it for nine blocks trying to get a peek at its contents. Its owner turned to enter the museum and, for just a moment, the man with the rapacious heart saw her face in profile. That was more than enough. He followed her in at a respectful distance and felt kinship blossom. Somewhere between 16th century Italy and 18th century France, the man with the rapacious heart fell very much in love with the woman with the beautiful profile.
In the Atrium, the woman with the beautiful profile pulled a chair before the statue of Perseus and she studied. Her head dipped and turned and weaved and her eyes remained fixed on the statue, gyroscopic. From her bag, she produced a huge wad of clay that she worked into an eighth-size replica of the hero’s shoulders and jaw line. She did not stop until the lights dimmed and the security guard tapped her on the shoulder. The man with the rapacious heart peered around a potted tree at the woman with the beautiful profile and the prodigious sculpting ability until it was too dark to see.
The following morning, the man with a song in his rapacious heart was the museum’s very first patron. He marched past millions of hours of art and straight to the feet of Perseus. His face soured to grave appraisal and he knocked twice against the mighty hero’s shin.
It was a wonderful thing. A glorious celebration of the days when men were men and nine feet tall and carved from solid granite. Perseus bore the serpent aloft in a masculine vice. His other arm was posed, slightly effete, behind his back. He was at ease, arm and torso just barely tensed, thighs and neck resting on lazy strength. Thanks to the hang-ups of some prudish vandal with a chisel, Perseus no longer had a penis. This made the man with the song in his heart feel a little bit better.
6 | Psychopomp Magazine