I had The Story Girl in Ms. Montgomery's books to tell me How Kissing Was Discovered. I was ten and for the first time she disappointed me. It didn't seem right that it should be something that came out of danger, transferring a gem from one mouth to another. I guessed it was like passing safety from soul to soul maybe, but still I was irritated with her for weeks.
I rarely wear lipstick and if I do I wipe it off real quick to kiss babies, soft soft cheeks sinking in. It makes sense that kissing would be the only way I can absorb their peace fully.
Kissing a man all over his face can never be overrated. I was shocked to discover how thirsty I was. I couldn't get enough in those first days, it was new texture for me, new topical maps to be charted.
This whole business about saying hello and saying goodbye is tiresome. Getting to know people only to lose them is tiresome. It's tiresome, but I am still learning. Without words, silent sometimes for a change, lost in trying to touch and breathe and smell and feel people all at once and in entirety. Trying to swallow them whole, (the way you never really can), know every crevice and hollow and emptiness. Because, you think, Maybe They Are Delicious. They usually are.
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