GERULPHUS

the map screamed when I tried to copy it. I didn’t know
what it meant, but
a stranger came by and warned me: “Do not try that again!” I
punched him hard in the chest, but the map screamed again
the man vanished

the map was painted on a piece of plywood. Eight feet per
eight feet. I traded a truck load of old Armenian board games to get it-

the names on the map: inundatio

deuesse

mirabilia

and relevium

among others. I wanted to go to colicula so I
tried to memorize the way as it was shown on the map

one beautiful morning I left

I ended up lost in guiche-zamora

eating crows
and spending a month with a prostitute who
called herself Gratita. She was twenty-two years old, and everything
about her reminded me of a grapefruit. I liked that, and I liked her, but
after a month I had to go.

-Gratita tell me how to get back to the city, I would ask her every day.
-Eat a few more crows, she would tell me. One night, I caught a bird
and promised it its freedom, if it would show me my way back. The bird agreed to help me..............when we reached black the walls of fames, the city
the bird implored me to let it go:
-There might be a wedding, today. Birds die.

I released it.

I burned the map--it didn't scream, but my chest started to hurt, and for a minute I couldn't
breathe

::: ::: :::

[Picture: Gerulphus by reading_is_dangerous]

“The eye of a human being is a microscope, which makes the world seem bigger than it really is.” -Kahlil Gibran.