I named myself Adam & you pronounced
yourself Steve; two of god’s greatest
anti-heroes. See, we do not even pass
to be called abominations – how the devil
is only the devil just because we want him
to be. In this story, we are the ones urging Iblis
to take a bite out of the apple, telling him:
eat from the fruit of life; break free from all the shackles
holding you down. I think the good lord never forgave
the first sinners for claiming their bodies as their own.
What good is a fall from grace when there is something
growing inside your stomach, waiting to consume you
from the inside out? The only difference between living
and surviving is the difference in execution. Somehow,
we are all gods in each of our stories: which is to say
we are the architects of our own misfortunes, which is to say
the first sinners didn’t actually fall from grace; instead,
they held hands like lovers would, draped their loins with lilies,
and walked [hand in hand] quietly out of grace.
Animashaun Ameen
Animashaun Ameen is a poet and essayist. His writings are mostly centered on memory, sexuality, and identity. His works have appeared/forthcoming in Salamander Mag, Native Skin, Third Estate Mag, Roadrunner Review, TheDrinking Gourd, and elsewhere. He lives and writes from Lagos, Nigeria. An oddball. A butterfly. He tweets @AmeenAnimashaun
Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash