Nylon Spandex Blend

By Tahirah Alexander Green

You are euphoria in nylon. You’re a risk and I know it. I couldn’t get you out of my head for months. You showed up on my social media feeds, in my inbox, conversations with friends, even at my job. I didn’t want to admit I wanted you. How could I want someone with a reputation like yours? Muscle damage. Bruising. Suffocation. Back pain. How could I want to hurt? I tried to avoid you. Settled for compression bras and baggy shirts. Settled for dysphoria. I denied you for so long, it was impulse when I brought you home. It was needing to try something else. Even then, I didn’t trust you. I struggled to get you over my head, held my breath even though I wasn’t supposed to. I eyed you suspiciously in the mirror. Turned sideways. Turned front. I watched you make me more myself than my own flesh.


Tahirah Alexander Green (they/them) is a queer, Black, nonbinary literary artist based in Washington DC. They are committed to celebrating Black queer weirdos in their work by crafting stories that nourish, heal, or disrupt. They are a 2021 DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellow, 2021 Tin House Fellow, 2020 Hurston/Wright workshop participant, and 2019 Lambda Literary Fellow. Their work has appeared in The Rumpus, Electric Literature, Black Youth Project, and more.

Previous
Previous

Old man relative say

Next
Next

Heartsong