Apple: Skin to the Core

Content Warning: This section contains discussions of anti-Indigenous racism, colonial violence, substance abuse, and cultural genocide.

This section summarizes “Get Back,” “Peel This Skin,” “Indian Love Call,” “Are These Tricks or Are These Treats?,” “Legacy,” “Everybody Knows,” and “Poem to the Beams in My Uncle’s House, Empty These Days.”

“Get Back” references the Beatles song of the same name.

“Peel This Skin” compares human skin to apple skin and discusses the biblical symbolism of apples. Gansworth’s friend, Nate, asked him to be a nude model for an art commission. Gansworth agreed, on the condition that Nate return the favor one day. A few weeks later, Nate left town, never modeling for Gansworth. The work of art made Gansworth feel exposed. He thought about how dangerous it is to share one’s secrets. He started dating a man named Larry.

In “Indian Love Call,” Gansworth meditates on love. His mother said that Tuscarora had no word for love, but Gansworth’s Tuscarora-English dictionary included words for “love of something not / human; lover; lovesick; and one for ‘lust’” (289). None of these words described the kind of love that Gansworth felt for Larry. Although Tuscarora developed new words for “elephant” and “monkey,” it never developed a word for their kind of love.