Vanessa Norton

Vanessa Norton is an artist living in Oakland. She is the writer of Sweet 16: 16 Photographs of 16 Ex-Boyfriends Taken When They Were 16 (Wasted Books, 2018). Her writing appears or is forthcoming in Fanzine, Tammy, Black Warrior Review, and DIAGRAM. Her work may be found here @vfnorton and here.

EMPATHY by Vanessa Norton

The man who lived downstairs kept a wooly pig as a pet. Sometimes, he would stab the pig with a kitchen knife until the pig fell over. He insisted that the pig enjoyed being stabbed; in fact, he would come to the door just to get it. Falling over meant the pig had surrendered to the sublime. My boyfriend had a hard time taking care of himself. He was a drooler. He forgot to rinse at the end of his shower, so his body was often covered in suds. He walked around town with his cock swinging from his fly—unintentionally—but…

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