maybe men are the truest carnivores
i want to eat you
it is a hot afternoon when he texts you this, confessing how hungry, how wet his saliva is for
the flesh of your body. your throat catches at the flippancy of what he says next about his ex(hibit)
that he can’t eat her anymore because too many men don chop, she is now a dead babe
too many men don chop and now to eat her would be like him chewing the cud of her body.
the regurgitation dance he will not do, she can no longer satisfy him
and when he says, i like your tiny waist, your big bumbum, the way it jiggles when you walk,
it reminds you of your mother’s Saturday afternoon ritual, her Saturday market argument with the butcher, her shouting 500 last! him jiggling the slab of meat and slapping it down on his board, flapping away the flies that linger, splashing bits of blood, exclaiming, madam, dis meat na 2000 last! if you buy am, you go enjoy am, e go full pot.
It reminds you of the bride price back and forth on Sister’s introduction. the back and forth of your uncles shouting what they will and will not take, shouting what she is worth; don’t you know that she is a masters degree holder? she works in a big bank o, look at her skin now, omalicha nwa ka o bu! Your sister, she stands there at the corner of the sitting-room door, in her pretty blue George and Gele, smiling with a shyness that is foreign to her face, her eyes downward as if in prayer, her hands, clasped together at her lower belly…
When he says, i can’t wait to lay you down and eat you, his carnivorous languaging reminds you of Psalm 23:5- thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. and at this table, he is David and you are the meal. you are the body and blood, distributed at every Sunday communion.
His appetite frightens you and you want your flesh far from his hunger. His passion means your death & you want a death-free resurrection mystery. You vow, that the hem of your garment he will not touch. You will keep your body far from his love of flesh, far from this man, far from this carnivore.
