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TPCReview Issue 001

Germain Canon

Boy Scouts

After we were done masturbating in the forest
we all came back to the tent and stripped
and counted pubic hair
and discussed who had done it and who had not
(we meant coming). I wasn’t sure
so later that night, when everybody was asleep
I got out of the tent and went back to the forest, looking for the place
between the black trees, in the narrow beam of the flashlight
whispering a song to myself. Then I found the tree and there it was, between the roots
a crumpled tissue over pine needles and dead leaves.
There were tiny black dots, I looked closer,
brought the light so close it blinded me
there were ants, there were so many ants all over my come
swarming around in the white beam of the light.
I turned and ran away.

Germain Canon (b.1989, Belgium) is an artist based in Taipei. Originally trained as an architect in Brussels, he has since developed a creative career beyond architecture, using writing, painting, and installations as medium. He has been a member of the Taipei Poetry Collective since 2018. He was shortlisted for the 2021 Neilma Short Story Prize (Australia), and in 2022 was runner up for The Phare Winter Prize for Poetry (UK). His last solo exhibitions were in Taipei (Venue 溼地 – 2021) and Kaoshiung (Pier 2 駁二漾藝廊 – 2023).