The Western World

THE WESTERN WORLD

by Misha Solomon

(Content Warnings: anti-gay slur, settler colonialism)

I

In a cave in a place / somewhere near Greece / a
woman named Echidna is half-snake / the lower
half / maybe that half ends in a snake head / or she’s
a snake with the head of a woman / a woman named
Echidna gives birth to monsters / Cerberus & Hydra
& Chimera & Sphinx / these monsters become far
more famous than she ever was or will be / she
wishes she had eaten them when she had the chance
/ even her more boring offspring / like the Nemean
lion / which was just a lion with a really thick pelt

II

A half-world away / some Brits in Tasmania see a
ten-pound ball of spines / a hedgehog with an
anteater’s beak & tongue / it’s furry &
warm-blooded but it lays eggs / it already has a
name / many in fact / ngarrbek / bigibila / jana jana / 
but the explorers call it echidna / because its tongue
looks like a snake / or maybe like a snake’s tongue /
or maybe because it seems to be half-mammal &
half-reptile /or maybe because the colonizers revere
the ancients but aren’t so good at Greek / mix up
their gods & monsters / their vipers & sea urchins

III

A half-world away the other way around / some
lonely boy / who doesn’t know he’s lonely yet /
reads animal encyclopedias every weekend morning
/ splayed out on his bedroom carpet / glossy Dorling
Kindersley wide open / picks a favourite mammal /
the weirdest he can find / loves Greek mythology /
as lonely boys do / becomes a fag / wants to butch
up his spindly arms / gets a tattoo of Echidna
holding an echidna / never loved / the drawing he
approved / let it be injected anyway / let this be my
biggest mistake