Two years back, I was wiping thick blankets of dirt off the barbeque; my son was less helpful than sunscreen in winter. His puerile brain was possessed by a bright green. He had found a cicada hanging on by the thinnest thread. It bounced more than it flew.
My boy was left with the choice all children face when they meet a wounded insect:
To end its suffering or to watch it drag its remaining four legs around the yard until it’s ravaged by the cat.
He chose a hidden third option and froze it in a circular plastic container.
He keeps the cicada in our laundry freezer. I say hi to the little guy whenever I need oven fries.
Today the cicada is as ostentatious as the day it passed, upright and with forever-bug-eyes. Its wings even poke out the ice.
I have not a clue as to why he decides to keep the cicada, or why he bothers checking up on it every summer.
Perhaps he hears it singing still.
Perhaps his naivety is a hope factory.
Part of me hopes that if we defrost it, the cicada will fly around the house as if nothing ever happened. Another part of me thinks about the seconds where the cicada was still breathing as my son drowned it, smiling through his mismatched teeth.
I love my boy.
I don’t like my boy.
I love my boy.
I love my boy!
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About Steven Christou
Reflecting the world as it presents itself, Steven Christou draws satire from the mundanity and reveals a complexity to the every-day. With work that spans mediums, Christou creates primarily through prose poetry and experimental performance, and often blends multiple different forms across the same artwork. Christou’s creative endeavours also span into screen acting, where he has worked primarily for the last few years. The 21-year-old Melbourne-based artist is preparing to undertake his Honours year after receiving a bachelor’s degree with distinction in Creative Arts at Deakin University. His independent poetry collections can be viewed on stevenchristoupoetry.com, and his new television series Single, Out screens March 1st in Sydney’s Dendy Cinema Newtown.
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Loved this, Steven.
And welcome.