If I flash them this look, nobody will fuck with me.
the spears-out, withering glance of a man
scowling into a boxing ring, flanked by nobody.
It is with wiles I will make my mark,
not some cavalier head lift or feathered smirk.
Take nothing as certain, accept no graces.
He and she and he and she are your enemies all.
Never let them spy a soft spot, some open gap.
If you’d like I can show you; I can throw leather
on your shoulders and hard patches on knees
and stomach, set you to work, half-armored.
It takes a month to acclimate–to the hardness
the distillation of memory, translating your heart
to granite, a cragged jut, a shank of inhumanity.

Nathan Leslie won the 2019 Washington Writers’ Publishing House prize for fiction for his collection of short stories, Hurry Up and Relax. He is also the series editor for Best Small Fictions. Invisible Hand (2022) and A Fly in the Ointment(2023) are his latest books. Nathan’s previous books of fiction include Three Men, Root and Shoot, Sibs, and The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice. He is also the author of a collection of poems, Night Sweat. Nathan is currently the founder and organizer of the Reston Reading Series in Reston, Virginia, and the publisher and editor of the online journal Maryland Literary Review. Nathan lives in Northern Virginia.