IV. Pink

“turn it upside down, inside out, peer at it from above and below, break open its external shell, look into its center, doubt it, take it apart, dismember it, lay it bare and expose it, examine it freely and experiment with it.”

The little martian tut tuts as he narrates Bakhtin to me, his lilting voice both joking yet disapproving.

“You know this is a literary essay right? They’re talking about the difference between an epic and novel” you tell him.

“Then why do you ears get so pink when I read it?” drawls the little martian.

The little martian is getting on my nerves today.