Cliterature’s 50th Issue

For their 50th issue of poetry, short fiction, and essays addressing the intersection of women’s sexuality, Cliterature has released the double-sized “Anthology“.

It includes my piece, “Manifesto,” best described as a fictional essay–written in a voice that is not quite my own. Actually, the voice belongs to the heroine of my NaNo novel. But her manifesto certainly draws a lot on my own reading and thinking.

What I’m trying to do with the parable above (besides explain why I couldn’t see you on Saturday) is make the point that I hate appearing soft, sweet, harmless. But it’s not that I hate softness, sweetness, harmlessness themselves.

Because you’re soft. Sweet. And I’d trust you with my life.

You’re, if you’ll excuse my saying so, pretty fucking cute. And I like it.

For that matter, especially when it comes to you, I don’t hate being harmless. Maybe I do want to be defanged. I want to do things to you that could hurt, without you being hurt. (Please believe me that I never want you to be hurt.) Is that benign, compassionate, or simply unrealistic? Careless, even?

I’d like to write a little more about the things I want to do to you.

I’m writing this while I’m supposed to be writing something else, because I’ll always be supposed to be writing something else. For the rest of my life.

That’s exhausting to think about, somehow less exhausting to write down. Feels better to have it contained on the page. Although writing is also exhausting, and it’s exhausting to think about how much is left to be written—which, according to this writer Cixous I’ve been reading in my downtime (by which I mean reading when I should be doing something else), is almost everything.

About sex, specifically. And this manifesto of mine is about sex, specifically. But you already knew that.

You can read the full story HERE.