…only the one that inflicts the pain can take it away
Madonna, Erotica (1992)

you thrive on the surface of things
like a thorn shines with pulse & beat
through your fingers I exist
like suds-
bursts of soap that pop  
in soiled boots & amyl tonight
 
the audacity of lust
suspends all disbelief
with spits & slaps & fists & moans
               manifesto for the body electric
wrapped in the thrill of this unknown
tip-taps away
in a swish-swish of tears
                (the safe word   yes Sir)
I will gag them              tears
make them creatures of
the inaudible
let me tell you what’ll be
the mystery of your legacy
 
the certainty of living, abhorred
 

Piero Toto (he/him), is an Italian translator, lecturer, LGBTQ scholar and house music enthusiast living in London, UK. He writes under the influence of T.S. Eliot, Pedro Salinas, the Beat Generation, Milo De Angelis, James Baldwin and the forefathers of House. Major influences in his work are Derek Jarman’s Blue, Fingers Inc. featuring Chuck Roberts’ Can You Feel It (Vocal) and Laura Palmer’s death in Twin Peaks. ‘I’m in love with a rubberman’ is a free verse composition and reflection on kink, sexuality and the impossibility of language. Twitter: @tradutoto.