“Why Women’s Knees are So Pretty” by Nick Carbó

Nick Carbó

WHY WOMEN’S KNEES ARE SO PRETTY

In the old days the Blaans believed
that a man could not be told apart
from a woman. The word for man

and woman was not yet known
and there was no father or mother
either, there was just one parent.

Each individual had a penis
and a vagina and these were placed
on each knee. The God Tasu Weh

was the inventor of this being
and he was very proud of his design.
One day the God Fiu Weh saw

that the individuals stopped working
in the fields, stopped cooking
for supper, stopped caring

for the chickens and the pigs.
Fiu Weh noticed that all of them
were too busy having sexual

intercourse with themselves.
They were so enthralled and throbbing
that they could hardly walk or run

away from a python about to devour
their legs. Fiu Weh went to Tasu Weh
and told him that an individual

should have one penis and another
just a vagina. Tasu Weh was
stubborn and said, “If that’s the kind

of people you want to make,
go ahead, I’ll keep mine.”
These days when you see

a man slipping his penis
between a woman’s legs
she tries to bring

her knees together behind
the man’s back because she is
trying to double her pleasure.

Rattle: Poetry