A Giant Moth Crawls Out of Your Mouth
1
you’re an eight year old boy
Mayté doesn’t speak English
grass makes your skin itchy
Mexico (go to stanza 4)
United States (go to stanza 2)
2
good choice
nice house with a yard
but there is a lot of grass
and you’ll never understand Mayté
start a neighborhood lawn mowing business (go to stanza 5)
listen to your friend talk about his circumcision (go to stanza 7)
3
three as in third as in after second and far from first
I wish I lived in a first world said the tour guide at the museum
you try to speak but a giant moth
crawls out of your throat
as a tourist in the city where you lived as a child you feel like you own your memories and
you can jump between them as you please (return to stanza 1)
4
good choice
nice people with warm kitchens
but the water smells funny
and you’ll come to understand death
hesitate to kick a soccer ball with full strength (go to stanza 6)
travel to the future (go to stanza 3)
5
design flyers and make fifty copies
stuff them in doors and mailboxes
one lady pays with a ten
and asks for change
make a price sheet for chores and turn your parents into your only customers (the end)
6
you don’t know anyone and you hardly understand them
the ball rests under one boy’s foot
you could miss and look like a fool
or blast it and make him fall
freeze under pressure and crumble into the grass (the end)
7
he says it was for his religion
that it didn’t hurt
but it looks gross
then pulls down his pants
turn away and close your eyes but still catch a glimpse of the hairless swollen purple flesh
(the end)