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.