Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Insomnia

To be free of you is to sit here, alone, and to not long for the warmth of your body, or the feel of your thighs. To be free of you is to know that I have chosen to lie here, wrapped in a red shawl, feeling the air breathe up my legs, not to be asleep, with you, in bed - because you always knew how to cure my insomnia.

To be free of you means to know I can handle grief like a crystal vase - clear and shatter-able - without needing to spill words onto you like honey.

You told me you dreamt you were superman, but in your dream, you could not save me. I never asked you to.

You could not save me because I could not break myself into tiny enough pieces for you to sweep, and because you were afraid of the pain.

Or maybe I was afraid. It doesn't matter.

I don't miss you tonight. I miss my pink sheets, and the smell of a man's sweat on my pillows - but I don't miss you. I don't even miss your body.

When you told me you wanted us to be alone, in Central Park, that day, I thought to myself, "Oh. So he wants to fuck me". I took your hand and told you it would be ok. I am sorry, because that was the only time I lied to you, I think.

At least I did not lie to you with my body: I took you into my bed when I wanted, as I wanted. I did not use words like "love" - words that rolled so easily off your tongue.

"Do you love me, or are you just addicted to my body?" I asked. I was not angry; merely curious. You told me you saw no difference, but I did: Love is not sex, despite what they teach you in kindergarten - and you, for some odd reason, had sex ed in kindergarten.

But I have never grown addicted to a man's kisses - or a woman's either, for that matter. Like a conoisseur sipping fine wine, I know when the bottle has reached its dregs.

My one regret is that you were not as delicious as I had hoped; your lips were not as sweet, your hands ungentle.

Does it make me evil, to dissect the interaction of our bodies like a scientist deconstructing an experiment gone wrong, as if you were a cell of bacteria?

But I think I wanted you then. Maybe I even loved you, in moments when I was afraid.

Maybe - because who can tell, at the point where sex meets desire, where hormones meet soul?

I guess it's time to open a new bottle.


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