Pacific Rim Kaiju fan art by Joakim Olofsson (http://joakimolofsson.deviantart.com/)
SOPHIA HOLTZ
You Vs. Radioactive Monsters:
A Survival Guide
First, do not inspect any strange occurrences.
The best procedure for dealing with radioactive monsters
is avoidance. If strange footprints show up in your neighborhood,
if people disappear— do not search for who is gone,
no matter how much you liked them. If your lover/love interest
is not at home, you will find notable clues in dank places:
a smear of mud on the basement steps, her pruning shears
wet in the grass. If you follow that trail of blood
you will find nothing good.
If you must go after it, (and most do)
you are now the hero. You may not survive.
Remember that gone is gone. If you are still the hero,
you must be prepared: be likeable, be All-American, be boy.
Know the monster will be familiar,
a creature that used to be harmless suddenly giant.
It will have barbed fur or bladed antenna, a poisonous touch
and teeth. You may pretend the radiation is what has made it this way
but you will be wrong. Everything is out to get you and always has been.
Know the gun will fail you. This is not a matter of practice
(beer bottles, your cousin’s yard). There will be a standoff,
a culmination of the chase, and at the most crucial moment,
when it is between a perfect shot or a lover devoured, you will miss.
You are the hero. The monster will know to kill you next.
There is an easy way to avoid this predicament--
carry an axe. But, it is not really an axe. It does not need to be:
your violence that you keep in your most desperate insides.
Carry it like an extra limb, and know that in order to kill a beast
you must become one. Carry this knowledge with you,
though it will be heavier than you can bear. But bear that weight,
this is how you save your girl. You gotta save the girl.
Sophia Holtz is a writer, performer, and sometimes-illustrator. She has performed her poetry in bars, colleges, and the occasional basement throughout the United States. Her work can be found in Consequence, Muzzle, and Neon, among others. Her website is sophiaholtz.com.
A Survival Guide
First, do not inspect any strange occurrences.
The best procedure for dealing with radioactive monsters
is avoidance. If strange footprints show up in your neighborhood,
if people disappear— do not search for who is gone,
no matter how much you liked them. If your lover/love interest
is not at home, you will find notable clues in dank places:
a smear of mud on the basement steps, her pruning shears
wet in the grass. If you follow that trail of blood
you will find nothing good.
If you must go after it, (and most do)
you are now the hero. You may not survive.
Remember that gone is gone. If you are still the hero,
you must be prepared: be likeable, be All-American, be boy.
Know the monster will be familiar,
a creature that used to be harmless suddenly giant.
It will have barbed fur or bladed antenna, a poisonous touch
and teeth. You may pretend the radiation is what has made it this way
but you will be wrong. Everything is out to get you and always has been.
Know the gun will fail you. This is not a matter of practice
(beer bottles, your cousin’s yard). There will be a standoff,
a culmination of the chase, and at the most crucial moment,
when it is between a perfect shot or a lover devoured, you will miss.
You are the hero. The monster will know to kill you next.
There is an easy way to avoid this predicament--
carry an axe. But, it is not really an axe. It does not need to be:
your violence that you keep in your most desperate insides.
Carry it like an extra limb, and know that in order to kill a beast
you must become one. Carry this knowledge with you,
though it will be heavier than you can bear. But bear that weight,
this is how you save your girl. You gotta save the girl.
Sophia Holtz is a writer, performer, and sometimes-illustrator. She has performed her poetry in bars, colleges, and the occasional basement throughout the United States. Her work can be found in Consequence, Muzzle, and Neon, among others. Her website is sophiaholtz.com.