Summary

In “bare,” the speaker vows to allow their body to tear itself apart for want of their lover. They liken this destruction to knights jousting, or “rebel cells” watching their homes burn (37). The speaker promises to burn for just one night with no barriers between them, until their bodies and blood and names are the same.

The five parts of “seroconversion” each tell a story differently. First, two boys who are strangers meet and one pulls fantastic creatures out of the other until he turns into a pig. The boy splits the pig boy open, and afterward they dress and try to part as if nothing has happened. Second, the god of shovels visits the god of soil, but only as the shovel god leaves does the god of soil see the red thorns on his back. Third, a boy with bad teeth...