Latest from Book of Love: “Me and New Girlfriend Kiss in an Alley”

We were in the alley beside The Ritz costume store. She pointed at a chandelier inside.

“I really like chandeliers,” she said. “I like old-fashioned things that are full of light.”

“Me&You, Both,” I said.

“Have you ever seen the chandelier store on 11^th Street?”

“Yeah, it’s right next to the cabstand. I usta see it every night at work.”

“Oh yeah.”

“I only saw it at night tho when they’d drawn the curtains. I guess so potential thieves wouldn’t get any ideas.”

“Aww.”

“That’s a metaphor, huh? My old job was so dark the chandeliers were concealed.”

Then she just leaned in and kissed me. The love chemicals within me surged and made me feel very soft as I kissed her back.

“I think I can only write when I’m upset,” I told her. “I haven’t been able to write anything good since we met. Too in love. Too content. Too full of light.”

“You’re right,” she said. “Good writing can’t just be all light. It needs to have some dark too or else people won’t trust you.”

“What am I supposta do tho? There is no dark anymore. I only feel like that chandelier in there – a hundred little bulbs shining on wigs and hats and masks.”

“Yes, but even in the light you can remember the dark. Just like your memory of the cabstand.”

“Hmm, you’re right. Maybe I could write a poem out of that.”

It was suggestions like that that made me feel even more in love with her, so I kissed her good. Arms around her, pushing her just little against the alley’s brick wall. My lips gentle yet precise.

“Oh gawwwd,” someone passing by said.

I wasn’t sure if they were talking about us, but I kept kissing my girlfriend anyway cuz it had too much momentum and wanted to be endless.

“Is this like their first kiss ever?” another person passing by said. “What are they teenagers?”

They said the word ‘teenagers’ with a lot of judgment, but I kept kissing my girlfriend anyway cuz our souls really hated there being any distance between them.

“They make me want to gouge my eyes out,” another person passing by stared at us with pure disgust.

“Wow,” I finally broke off the kiss. “They really wanted us to stop kissing even tho it’s the best possible thing that can happen between two people.”

“Some people are so afraid of the light they’ll project their own darkness upon it,” she said.

“Well put,” I said and knew just what I wanted to write next.

– November 2014, Broomfield CO

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