"I Should Have Kissed Her"

[amicus]

I should have kissed her...




It was just an instant…

a heartbeat or two

a quick blink or two

a slight flush of a cheek.


Then her lips came slowly together

and she dropped her eyes

and lowered her chin

and the instant…was gone…


…never to repeat…​

~~~

I was either inspired or stole the lines from Val Kilmer and Carrie Ann Moss from the film, "Red Planet", or was it "Mission To Mars", forget which one now...and posted this on a poetry site.

Anyway, upon re-reading the poem and remembering my thoughts when I wrote it, 'kissing' someone is usually a masculine imperative, a male initiative, well, for heterosexuals anyway, I thought of a Literotica, AH, association and that a story could be made from just the thought of a kiss not taken...when offered or perhaps 'proferred' would be a better word...as when does one 'know' for sure if a woman wants to be or will accept or is expecting a kiss?

Perhaps you have seen the film and remember the scene, or perhaps you can visualize two people, face to face, eyes engaged, lips parted, breathing rapidly and picture the setting for that first ever kiss between two people and the lost moment.

I can think of a dozen different ways a story could sprout from that.


amicus...

Edited to add: (PS, I received some criticism about the double use of 'two' in the first part, and the multiple use of 'and', in the second part, and the last line could be eliminated...still thinking on revising...)

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Ami,

Strange but true, I'm about to post a Romance story similar to your scenario. I've given it the rather original (not to mention, clever) title, The Kiss. Even stranger but true, it's based on RL events the afternoon my future wife-unit and I first kissed.

As in the scenario, I chickened out on my first opportunity. But a few minutes later got, and took advantage of, a second chance. To this day "she who must be obeyed" insists she was not, I say again, NOT, coming on to me. Maybe so. As a rule, nice Jewish girls from Queens, happily engaged to their long-time boyfriends, did not become romantically interested in one-eyed, redneck, Vietnam vets. So who knows?

Rumple Foeskin

 

[Vermilion]

Ami,

Strange but true, I'm about to post a Romance story similar to your scenario. I've given it the rather original (not to mention, clever) title, The Kiss. Even stranger but true, it's based on RL events the afternoon my future wife-unit and I first kissed.

As in the scenario, I chickened out on my first opportunity. But a few minutes later got, and took advantage of, a second chance. To this day "she who must be obeyed" insists she was not, I say again, NOT, coming on to me. Maybe so. As a rule, nice Jewish girls from Queens, happily engaged to their long-time boyfriends, did not become romantically interested in one-eyed, redneck, Vietnam vets. So who knows?

Rumple Foeskin

One-eyed?

Rumple... Amicus is talking about kissing on the *mouth*, you know...


x
V

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

One-eyed?

Rumple... Amicus is talking about kissing on the *mouth*, you know...


x
V

Different strokes for different folks, my dear.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Vermilion]

Different strokes for different folks, my dear.

Rumple Foreskin

yeah, we ain't talkin' 'bout no stroking, either, dude

x
V

 

[amicus]

Ami,

Strange but true, I'm about to post a Romance story similar to your scenario. I've given it the rather original (not to mention, clever) title, The Kiss. Even stranger but true, it's based on RL events the afternoon my future wife-unit and I first kissed.

As in the scenario, I chickened out on my first opportunity. But a few minutes later got, and took advantage of, a second chance. To this day "she who must be obeyed" insists she was not, I say again, NOT, coming on to me. Maybe so. As a rule, nice Jewish girls from Queens, happily engaged to their long-time boyfriends, did not become romantically interested in one-eyed, redneck, Vietnam vets. So who knows?

Rumple Foeskin

~~~

Ah, you touched my poetic and romantic soul with that response Rumple...my second wife was a 'nice' Jewish girl from South Orange, New Jersey, that I met at the University of Hawaii, when I was chasing coeds....

There is a Rodin statue, called, "The Kiss", which I was fortunate enough to see in the outdoor Rodin Gallery in Paris, so, 'original'...? well...maybe the story...please link me to it when you post it.

Gracias...and de nada...


amicus...

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

~~~

Ah, you touched my poetic and romantic soul with that response Rumple...my second wife was a 'nice' Jewish girl from South Orange, New Jersey, that I met at the University of Hawaii, when I was chasing coeds....

There is a Rodin statue, called, "The Kiss", which I was fortunate enough to see in the outdoor Rodin Gallery in Paris, so, 'original'...? well...maybe the story...please link me to it when you post it.

Gracias...and de nada...

amicus...

Will do, Ami. It's just been submitted.

I envy you the chance to see that Rodin. Large works of art just have to be seen in person to get the full effect. I still recall being blown away by Picaso's Guernica when it was still at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

yeah, we ain't talkin' 'bout no stroking, either, dude

Well, not that day.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Vermilion]

Will do, Ami. It's just been submitted.

I envy you the chance to see that Rodin. Large works of art just have to be seen in person to get the full effect. I still recall being blown away by Picaso's Guernica when it was still at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.



Rumple Foreskin

The Rodin museum is amazing and Rodin has long been a favourite sculptor of mine, but I think he was completely overshadowed in some ways by the Bernini sculptures in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. There just are no words for the incredible beauty of those works, the sensuousness and fleshy quality of such an intractable material...
<shakes head>

http://static.flickr.com/36/84012107_18c864a2b9_o.jpg

sorry Ami, </threadjack>

x
V

 

[amicus]

The Rodin museum is amazing and Rodin has long been a favourite sculptor of mine, but I think he was completely overshadowed in some ways by the Bernini sculptures in the Galleria Borghesi, Rome. There just are no words for the incredible beauty of those works, the sensuousness and fleshy quality of such an intractable material...
<shakes head>

sorry Ami, </threadjack>

x
V

~~~

No Problem, red shoe'd lady, came over the Alp's on my moto and got seduced in Genoa, never made it to Rome, she took me to Barcelona instead, alas...

Bernini...sighs...I will have to review my long ago studies of art to recall...but I will...being the curmudgeon that I am...

Ain't it amazing what the old hated Amicus at large has experienced and is still a right wing son of a bitch?

Grins...

and Ciao...


ami

 

[Vermilion]

~~~

No Problem, red shoe'd lady, came over the Alp's on my moto and got seduced in Genoa, never made it to Rome, she took me to Barcelona instead, alas...

Bernini...sighs...I will have to review my long ago studies of art to recall...but I will...being the curmudgeon that I am...

Ain't it amazing what the old hated Amicus at large has experienced and is still a right wing son of a bitch?

Grins...

and Ciao...


ami

Not sure how experiencing art can do anything to anyone beyond rendering one awestruck and speechless...

I love both art and literature and I especially love the contrast in how they 'get' you... one sneaks in and infiltrates your mind, creeping through your thoughts, building slowly to a crescendo. The other smacks you in the face with emotion.

x
V

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Ain't it amazing what the old hated Amicus at large has experienced and is still a right wing son of a bitch?

Grins...

and Ciao...

ami

For the benefit of any newbies among us, let me point out that Ami may be a self-confessed son-of-a-bitch, but he's very much a self-made man.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Liar]

Edited to add: (PS, I received some criticism about the double use of 'two' in the first part, and the multiple use of 'and', in the second part, and the last line could be eliminated...still thinking on revising...)

Don't. Repetition and clustering is a powerful tool, and IMO you use it quite well there. It gives the piece a certain tempo that it wouldn't have otherwise.

Btw, the movie was Red Planet.

 

[gauchecritic]

It seems to me that art, or the bodily 're-actions' to art are somewhat comparative to such personal events as a 'first kiss'.

Isn't that what artists try to do? capture and/or evoke emotion in their work.

A poem, or indeed any other writing, being a communication tool (along with art/music etc) are actually designed in the (sub)conscious to evoke emotion. Is that the definition of 'good' art, that which provokes us?

'kissing' someone is usually a masculine imperative, a male initiative, well, for heterosexuals anyway,

this reminded me of the king of gay chicken from 'Scrubs'.

 

[amicus]

Don't. Repetition and clustering is a powerful tool, and IMO you use it quite well there. It gives the piece a certain tempo that it wouldn't have otherwise.

Btw, the movie was Red Planet.

~~~

Thank you Liar, I appreciate that, and I really mean it...the a a a in the first stanza, repeated in a different word in the second stanza, was my intent...but since I usually write poetry when I am snozzled to the gills....sometimes I wonder...

And thank you for Red Planet...and the line there was, "I should have kissed 'you'.", so I feel I can skate a little on that....

Still thinking about the criticism of the last line...I suppose it is implied....dunno...

ami

 

[Lee Chambers]

I like it

 

[amicus]

It seems to me that art, or the bodily 're-actions' to art are somewhat comparative to such personal events as a 'first kiss'.

Isn't that what artists try to do? capture and/or evoke emotion in their work.

A poem, or indeed any other writing, being a communication tool (along with art/music etc) are actually designed in the (sub)conscious to evoke emotion. Is that the definition of 'good' art, that which provokes us?



this reminded me of the king of gay chicken from 'Scrubs'.

~~~

Dunno 'Scrubs'....and the gay chicken thing, ahm, two guys about to kiss doesn't do much of anything for me (Carol King line), but, yes...to the first part of your post, evoking the emotions of others...through art and music and even poetry, literature....and ahem...the forum...smiles....I can do some things better than others.

Performing music artistically has always evaded me, although I can play, and sing, I just do not have the ability to do what I can do with words, or at least what I think I can do with words and the spoken voice....and the lack of that talent in music has always saddened me...

I guess we always yearn for what we do not have...the grass is always greener...dunno....

thanks...


amicus...

 

[amicus]

[QUOTE=Vermilion]The Rodin museum is amazing and Rodin has long been a favourite sculptor of mine, but I think he was completely overshadowed in some ways by the Bernini sculptures in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. There just are no words for the incredible beauty of those works, the sensuousness and fleshy quality of such an intractable material...
<shakes head>

http://static.flickr.com/36/84012107_18c864a2b9_o.jpg

sorry Ami, </threadjack>

x
V[/QUOTE]

~~~

I don't recall ever having seen that statue in that detail before and I am compelled to agree that the fleshy quality and sensuousness of the stone is hard to believe, gads....imagine the foresight of the artist as he conceived the product...

Was it Michaelangelo that said a piece of stone had something inside it screaming to be released?

amicus...

 

[glynndah]

I liked your poem. I've read it several times, including shortly after you posted the thread and it makes me smile and sigh each time.

 

[BlackShanglan]

It seems to me that art, or the bodily 're-actions' to art are somewhat comparative to such personal events as a 'first kiss'.

Isn't that what artists try to do? capture and/or evoke emotion in their work.

A poem, or indeed any other writing, being a communication tool (along with art/music etc) are actually designed in the (sub)conscious to evoke emotion. Is that the definition of 'good' art, that which provokes us?

Mmm. I like that. To really admire a work of art, to me, is inevitably quite a lot like falling in love.

I enjoyed the poem, Amicus. It reminded me that first kiss I had of the SO. It reminded me, too, of this other poem I have always loved:


since feeling is first
e.e. cummings

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;
wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
—the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

 

[amicus]

Mmm. I like that. To really admire a work of art, to me, is inevitably quite a lot like falling in love.

I enjoyed the poem, Amicus. It reminded me that first kiss I had of the SO. It reminded me, too, of this other poem I have always loved:


since feeling is first
e.e. cummings

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;
wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
—the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

...was never a great fan of e e cummings, but that is a curious and interesting combination of thoughts and it reminds me of the ongoing subject of many discussion here between reason and emotions.

I always wonder at the source of the position of many when they view emotions or feelings as primary and discount rationality...this offers a bit on an eye opener for me to understanding that dilemma...

"And death i think is no parenthesis..." most interesting...

thank you...

amicus...

 

[amicus]

I liked your poem. I've read it several times, including shortly after you posted the thread and it makes me smile and sigh each time.

~~~

thank you...

 

[tickledkitty]

Yeah, you shoulda, Amicus.

I like it very much. You're right. Lots of different ways to interpret that into a story. A chain story, perhaps?

 

[BlackShanglan]

...was never a great fan of e e cummings, but that is a curious and interesting combination of thoughts and it reminds me of the ongoing subject of many discussion here between reason and emotions.

I always wonder at the source of the position of many when they view emotions or feelings as primary and discount rationality...this offers a bit on an eye opener for me to understanding that dilemma...

"And death i think is no parenthesis..." most interesting...

thank you...

amicus...

I'm delighted to please. I'm amused, as well, as I've been upbraided in the past (not by you of course) for being a cold, heartless being living a lonely, sterile life of rationality that must naturally exclude emotion. It's interesting how differently people can see the same person.

I don't think that reason and emotion are opposed to each other. It's true that being strongly moved by one can lead to the other being eclipsed for a moment, but then giving all of my attention to one of my cats for a moment can lead me to not notice the other. Humans (and horses) simply have difficulty doing everything at once.

I don't care for either extreme. I'm not fond of reason that makes no room for compassion, morality, or emotion; I've got a strong dislike for the theory that one's own personal emotions are the only reality one needs to attend to. I think I dislike them because both are so easily used for selfish ends, either dismissing the feelings of all of one's fellow human beings or elevating one's own at the expense of all else. But then, Amicus, I suppose that I'll rile you by observing that the willingness to engage in a bit of self-sacrifice is what often seems to me to be missing from each position; I seem to think that Rand is not fond of that concept.

Shanglan

 

[amicus]

I'm delighted to please. I'm amused, as well, as I've been upbraided in the past (not by you of course) for being a cold, heartless being living a lonely, sterile life of rationality that must naturally exclude emotion. It's interesting how differently people can see the same person.

I don't think that reason and emotion are opposed to each other. It's true that being strongly moved by one can lead to the other being eclipsed for a moment, but then giving all of my attention to one of my cats for a moment can lead me to not notice the other. Humans (and horses) simply have difficulty doing everything at once.

I don't care for either extreme. I'm not fond of reason that makes no room for compassion, morality, or emotion; I've got a strong dislike for the theory that one's own personal emotions are the only reality one needs to attend to. I think I dislike them because both are so easily used for selfish ends, either dismissing the feelings of all of one's fellow human beings or elevating one's own at the expense of all else. But then, Amicus, I suppose that I'll rile you by observing that the willingness to engage in a bit of self-sacrifice is what often seems to me to be missing from each position; I seem to think that Rand is not fond of that concept.

Shanglan

~~~

Not riled at all, Shanglan, and rather appreciate the dialog.

Regardless of what is said, I did not swallow Rand, or Objectivism, hook, line and sinker.

Partly raising eight children and twice as many grandchildren, there are more instances than not when I gave up things of my choice to fulfill their needs. I would not, however, define that as 'sacrifice', or altruism.

I suspect we agree about more than we disagree and I rather think you might be a fine and interesting fellow to have as a friend out in the real world.

Although is is and always has been self evident to me, that men are less emotional than women, I thought, was a characteristic immediately observed by everyone.

Not so, as the froth and fur flies when I assertive gender differences of any degree.

Such a deal...


amicus...

 

[BlackShanglan]

~~~

Not riled at all, Shanglan, and rather appreciate the dialog.

Regardless of what is said, I did not swallow Rand, or Objectivism, hook, line and sinker.

Partly raising eight children and twice as many grandchildren, there are more instances than not when I gave up things of my choice to fulfill their needs. I would not, however, define that as 'sacrifice', or altruism.

Mmmm. It's a special sort of thing, what we will do out of love. Oscar Wilde once said that everything, even the finest emotions, must be paid for, and that's a thought that I've come back to many times, and always seen more depth in it. It's not just that you can't avoid paying for it if you have it, but that you can never have it at all if you're too busy avoiding the price. When you love strongly, it doesn't feel like sacrifice.

Although is is and always has been self evident to me, that men are less emotional than women, I thought, was a characteristic immediately observed by everyone.

Not so, as the froth and fur flies when I assertive gender differences of any degree.

*chuckle* Well, you're speaking to someone who eschews a gender altogether, so perhaps it's natural that we vary a little in our perceptions. Still, I find it interesting to see how the pendulum swings back and forth. A hundred years ago, the idea of biologically determined gender roles was practically unquestioned. Forty years ago we were swinging rapidly in the other direction, and came to the brink of an utter social construction that saw biology as irrelevant. Now we seem to be slowly heading back in the other direction, with some very interesting studies in differences in brain chemistry and biological processes between the genders.

I see gender roughly the way I see race. I don't think it impossible that some characteristics are more likely in one group of humans than in another; the existence of ovaries and sickle cell anemia seem to suggest that indeed, there are differences. But I understand, too, the hesitation of anyone to be summed up in a broad generalization about one aspect of what he or she is. Knowing what is common to a large group doesn't really tell us anything about an individual member of it, and I think that most people prefer to be seen as individuals rather than as a collection of characteristics common to one very large group or another.

In that sense, honestly, I think that both gender and race are largely myths, or human inventions. They're categories and concepts that humans came up with to try to more easily lump each other into groups about which they can make some assumptions. I don't think that they often tell us much that is useful about each other; mostly, they reflect our desire to make the world around us more simple. They can be helpful when you're talking about purely biological things like anatomy or genetically transmitted disease, but once you move into socially affected things like education, personality, or intellect, gender and race are fairly useless predictors of what's likely in any individual. There's enough social construction in those things to make an gender-behavior/intellect (or race-behavior/intellect) connection so tenuous and unreliable as to be worthless - and potentially damaging, as well. Given that history is replete with examples of cruelty and oppression based on assumptions about one race or gender's inferiority to another, I think it's better to let go of the whole concept of an governing biological/behavioral-intellectual causality for such broad categories of humans.