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Animalia

"The Thing (1982)" and "The Fly (1986)"

By Sennah Yee
So what if I trust everyone, everything right away.

The Thing (1982)

So what if I trust everyone, everything right away. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t. Tell me why I shouldn’t believe that my body is what it is, that my skin can contain everything moving around inside of me. That my ribs will stay intact when I burst a belly laugh, that my heart will keep beating while I sleep. Who’s to say. I watch the moons of my nails wax and wane and wax and wane. I pick at the skin on my head like an animal. I am an animal and an animal that no one trusts. No one, nothing is scarier than someone exactly like you, who everyone is scared of.

The Fly (1986)

How can you change, become the world, when you can’t even change, become yourself? Frightening, isn’t it—to not know who you could be, could have been. Lugging around your own body for years, so heavy, so soft. Stretching your sagging skin, as you flit about in circles, squares, trying to chase a new legacy.

About the author

Sennah Yee is a Toronto-based writer and film producer. She is the author of the poetry collection How Do I Look? (Metatron Press) and the children’s book My Day With Gong Gong (Annick Press). Her new poetry manuscript Rushes was a finalist for Nightboat’s 2025 Poetry Prize. She is the managing editor of the film and pop culture journal In The Mood Magazine, and the producer of the feature films Withdrawn and Retrograde, which both premiered at Slamdance Film Festival.

Photo by Kafayé