the first time i tasted your lips
i regretted smoking too much that night.
my lips were cracked
and the only thing i tasted was menthol cigarettes.
took me a few hours to realize
i wasn't the one who smokes menthol.

we didn't just kiss, we held a competition
for dry lips and we are the only contestants
and each other's judges
performing on the stage of the mattress
horizontal
under the lights turned off.

kissing you is evolution in reverse
having two independent and capable persons
downgraded to having to rely on each other for breath
and even through the eons we have grown to walk upright
we curved our backs into question marks
asking each other why
and replying with nonspeaking lips.

kissing you moves from chapped lips grasping each other with gentle sandpaper caress
to gliding across one another with glimpses of tongues and teeth
breathing one another in
ragged
rasping
panting
deep breaths.

and it was wonderful.