Jacelyn, Transfloration: LTNPRST, 2026
Digital illustration
Courtesy of the artist
Artist Website, Instagram
11.
After Stone Cold Steve Austin drowned
himself in beer, frozen pebbles fell from
The Rock’s eyes. He gathered them up
and nursed them with warm milk,
then scattered them clean across the sky.
27.
The Rock built the Temple of Empty Rings.
He poured tequila shots on the overgrown
grave of his father, who laced him up as a boy
into red leather boxing gloves. From a distance,
they looked like pomegranates.
33.
The Rock was a slant of light.
Then he became the scorpion king.
Then he became a dust storm.
Then he became a mountain.
Now, he is the hitch in your breath
every time you step inside a circle.
40.
A man never tells another man
what he’s cooking, only asks the people
whether they can smell it. The Rock
always cooked over open flames,
asking the moon what’s for dinner,
asking the wind to give him a name.
51.
The Rock went all the way down
to the core of the Earth. He made
a pact with its tether of hot iron.
Then he came back, carrying a basket
of pineapples. The Rock cored and chopped
the fruit with his machete, feeding juicy hunks
to all the women. Every single woman.
62.
Before there were boys skipping
rocks across rivers, there were rivers
that tumbled rocks into boys.
The Rock plucked one out and gave it
an Attitude Adjustment, then
threw it back again.
77.
The Rock wears wooden canoes
as shoes. It’s a nice, snug fit.
The shoe salesman
at the canoe store asks
if he’s sure he can wiggle
his toes, and presses
his thumb on the bow.
84.
When The Rock put on a suit
of armor, he became Hercules.
He got his weight in gold. He led
a band of mute & feral barbarians
into battle. He healed. He was haunted
by a multi-headed dog. He knew himself
to be the son of Zeus.
93.
When The Rock got hungry, he wrestled
a gator in Florida, shot three bucks in Kentucky,
and trapped eleven rabbits in Maine. He gathered
bowls, and wooden spoons, a cast iron
& a clay pot. And then he started cooking.
112.
You can never be the boss of The Rock.
No man could ever be the boss of The Rock.
Not your boss, or any of his superiors.
Not Bruce Springsteen or whoever
The Boss’s boss is. There is a boss
who is bossier than all those
other bosses, and that boss is
The Final Boss.
116.
The Rock was always a demigod.
He attained divine illumination.
He swallowed the swords of his enemies.
He went head to head with Mankind.
He was beamed into our childhood
bedrooms. No one ever called
The Rock an ordinary man.
127.
On cable TV, he built The People’s Elbow
from scratch, making silly shapes and jokes
from his opponent’s bones, trying
to get a rise out of the Undertaker.
150.
The Rock was a Californian.
Then he became Black Adam.
Then he became the president.
Now, he is the islands of the great
Pacific Ocean. All of them.