A man was given one kiss, one mouth, one tongue, one early dawn, one boat on the sea, lust of an indeterminate amount under stars. He was happy and well fitted for life until he met a man with two cocks. Then a sense of futility and of the great unfairness of life befell him. He lay about all day like a teenaged girl dreaming, practicing all the ways to be unconsciously beautiful.
Gradually his competitive spirit began to fade and in its place a gigantic kiss rowed towards him. It seemed to recognise him, to have intended itself only for him. It’s just a kiss, he thought, I’ll use it up. The kiss had the same thing on its mine: “I’ll use up this man.”
But when two kisses kiss, it’s like tigers answering questions about infinity with their teeth. Even if you are eaten, it’s okay - you just become impossible, a new way - sleepless, stranger than fish, stranger than some goofy man with two cocks. That’s what I meant about the hazards of infinity.
When you at last begin to seize those things which don’t exist, how much longer will the night need to be?
Tess Gallagher
