MONO X - 'Inception' by Daniel Schulz

We'll be delivering MONO X as a series of posts over the next few days. All posts will be clearly marked as such.

We dress ourselves in each other's words, wearing them as drag, as if we were the only people around to understand, what we represent to each other, this bond we share when we go out together. Standing in front of you is almost like standing in front of a mirror some days. Every word you speak strips me of my speech, lays me bare in front of you. I almost feel helpless, when you look at me like that, undressing me with your thoughts. I want to turn your thoughts against you, make you feel what I feel, turn the image of yourself against you, render you vulnerable to your own longing.

I promise you something, then make you wait. We’re in the dark out here, in the midst of night, as I let an idea sliver into your ear with my tongue, with the whisper of my voice. Standing in the shadows, I let you know what I am thinking right now with a voice of intimacy. You can feel my fingers running down the texture of your clothing like strains of water ready to creep underneath your flesh. Leaving you in the dark, that place where dreams are woven, I refuse to unlock the door to my apartment, preferring to unravel a piece of your clothing, pull you by a string, and watch your constitution fall apart, as you feel the warmth of my breath wander down your neck, while your sex pulses in the fluid hands of both our genders, yours pressed against mine.

Grabbing my key, I unlock the door, but hold you at the threshold, wrap my hands around you from behind, slowly loosening your clothes, whispering imaginations into your ear, which soon will be your undoing… I have you by a thread, as your clothes unravel into strings that tie themselves around your body like ropes, that I pull tight with my fingertips in order to give you a sensual embrace from which you do not wish to release yourself… such is the task of a storyteller. And you see yourself in this fairy tale I am telling you, because, with the door wide open, you are standing in front of a mirror, helpless, in which you watch yourself slowly lose yourself to me.

Pressing your hands against the frame of your own reflection, I let my hands glide through your hair, softly, demanding that you kiss those pretty lips of yours, give yourself to me. There is slight resistance, not to me, but to yourself, the more my words tie you down, the more you rise up against me. You’ve never seen yourself in this light before and are afraid that you enjoy the game. As my lips caress your neck with fantasies, I can feel goosebumps rising from your skin, as they sense the weather changing, that lust I want to live with you, a thought carefully placed inside your mind. An idea that finds itself slowly spinning out of control, as if it were the eye of the storm.

All Rights. Daniel Schulz.

Daniel Schulz is a U.S.-German author and researcher based in Cologne. He has an M.A. in history and English Studies and is known for his work as curator of the Kathy Acker Reading Room at the University of Cologne. His work has appeared in journals such as EbR, Mirage 5, Gender Forum, Fragmented Voices, Versification, Café Irreal, L'absurde, Cacti Fur, Mono X, and The Wild Word, as well as in the anthologies Tin Soldier (Sarturia 2020), Corona-Schnee (Salon29 2021), Jahrbuch Lyrik (AG Literatur 2021), and Heart/h (Fragmented Voices 2021). In 2020 he published Kathy Acker in Seattle (Misfit Lit). His latest work appeared in the exhibition book Get Rid of Meaning (Walter König 2021).