The Black Flamingo

by Dean Atta

Your best friend is a mirror. Other friends ask after you when you are standing right there. “Where are you?” they ask. “Why are you without your other self?” You two are the ingredients to make something brand-new. You cannot unbake a cake. You can only slice. A knife is a mirror. A best friend can be a knife.

Men are sandcastles made out of pebbles and the bucket is patriarchy: if you remove it, we fear we won’t be able to hold ourselves together, we pour in cement to fill the gaps to make ourselves concrete constructions.