Sylvie Hill

STUCK (the email to Joe about the masking tape)

Please believe, I’m on your side
lock the door – that’s no place to hide
From yourself, you know you can’t hide”
– Constant Smiles, “I’m On Your Side”

I left them a message
that I’m sure they laughed about.
Thinking I was nuts.
I don’t care.

It was about the masking tape.
They used it for luggage.
Put your name “Sylvie,” “Fred,” “You Know Who”
before it went in their wheelbarrow, and they lugged it –

to our tambos!
In the middle of the Amazon jungle!
But what I didn’t know
was the evening bug, creature and midnight ant show.

At night under the tight-weave mosquito net
the teeny ants could get in.
They’d nestle outside it at best
feasting the guts-debris of a squashed insect.

But many could squeeze in.
And there their banquet would begin.
As night came on,
they licked and sucked the salt from your forehead.

I left them a message
that I’m sure they laughed about.
Thinking I was crazy in a bad way.
I don’t care.

It was about the masking tape.
They used it for luggage.
Put your name “Sylvie,” “Fred,” “You Know Who”
before it went in their wheelbarrow, and they lugged it –

In my tambo!
I had used it to patch a quarter-sized hole
through which the giant lizard
made its bed under my pillow.

And so: I used it to nab tiny ants.
Within –
Stick-stuck them
to their death!

It could have been mine:
snake bite, tarantula fright!
Falling jungle tree debris!
Or a slip on a frog on a rock at night!

They didn’t care.

It was about the masking tape.
They used it for luggage.
Messaged them a link to a thing about a shaman
talking of using all the ants as spiritual guidance –

… and my message
about using their masking tape supplies
to torture, kill
potential allies.

In their world,
c o n t r o l deftly masks
what it really tapes
to be free.

I was quite stuck,
Indeed.

Sylvie Hill, Montreal (2023)

Music from Constant Smiles, “I’m On Your Side”