I Want to Kiss
Jordyn Damato
like I used to kiss when I was 15 and I hope that young age doesn’t turn you off (or turn you on) but if I lied and told you I had my first kiss at 20 or not at all yet you would be even more turned off so here is the truth, I was 15 experiencing the height of my libido with boys who couldn’t spell libido but they could kiss and kiss they did; some were wet and steamy like I just got out of the shower and other times we were in the shower, his parent’s shower, and I felt like a married woman never mind the fact he had a girlfriend that wasn’t me, he kissed me like he loved me and it was so different than my next kiss who kissed me like he needed my tongue in his mouth to stay alive and I didn’t like being a human life support system so I kissed a girl who kissed me back full of fear then asked me to pray with her once we were done. My point is that it’s been so long since I’ve been kissed in a way that I like, in a way that gives me life and doesn’t steal it, in a way that feels like New Year’s Eve is every morning and morning breath never bothered me, I like lips in their most organic state and from the 16 out of the 19 people I’ve kissed, I’ve heard that I’m the best thing they’ve ever put in their mouth and truthfully, I would like to hear that again. I would like to feel like Marilyn Monroe or Madonna or another female sex icon that starts with M. I want to get turned on by someone (Am I making you uncomfortable, reader? Please tell me when to stop, or when to keep going, I want you to be comfortable, I need you to be comfortable.) I want to turn strangers on, I want to kiss in public, in the bed of your truck, in well-lit bars, in fancy restaurants we can’t afford, in the middle of a round-a-bout with everyone starring as they drive by, in your parents’ shower again, again, and again, I want to do more than kiss and I think you know that by now but I want to do it all, I want all of it and I want to not feel bad about any of it, can you do that for me, reader? Just this one time? Please? Can you?
Jordyn Damato currently attends Central Michigan University where she’s an accelerated masters student in the English program, with a focus in Creative Writing. Her prose and photography have appeared in Central Review, and she has work forthcoming in Bullshit Lit and Woolgathering Review. Jordyn has a passion for exploring the strange truths in her work, no matter how difficult that may be. She tweets unprofessionally at @jordyndamatoo.
