Sunday, May 18, 2008

Counting freckles

When my eyes fluttered open this morning, I was facing his shoulder, and I got the sudden urge to count the freckles scattered about his arm. It felt like the number was something I should know.


It is an odd thing, how you come to know a lover's body. It is not a cold process of memorization. Even if I had a smudge of artistic talent, I couldn't simply sketch every curve from memory. It is more a process of intuition. 
My hands just know what feels right. They sense where it is supposed to be soft or firm, smooth or rough, where my palm is supposed to curve. My fingertips rise in anticipation of the edge of a scar, and linger where something has changed, like the bump on an ankle, before I have even processed its presence.

26 comments:

B said...

awwwwwwwwww

Anonymous said...

This was beautiful, dear.

megabrooke said...

:)

once upon a time i remember thinking similar things about an ex. one of the harder things for me after we broke up was that i realized that i would no longer be able to know these things about him.

Z said...

so true!

Shopgirl said...

sigh. that was lovely. :)

Anonymous said...

that gave me goosebumps.

Melissa said...

That's so sweet :)

Eleni Zoe said...

I loved this! Especially the line, "It felt like the number was something I should know."

A Lil' Irish Lass said...

I just saw your post over on IB. I love it just as much now as I did when you first posted it here.

Beautiful.

A Margarita said...

That was sweet.

Dizzie said...

Aw....



I once laid in the dim lights of a breaking morning, tracing the scars on his body with the tips of my fingers, remembering the stories he told me that laid behind each and every single one... it's amazing, what makes your heart flutter. But the little things make the grand feeling - that's love!

Anonymous said...

i agree with brookem. it is such a natural tendency to internally catalogue what is and what isn't...and it's sad when you realize you won't know either way. this was really lovely

Anonymous said...

i agree with brookem. it is such a natural tendency to internally catalogue what is and what isn't...and it's sad when you realize you won't know either way. this was really lovely

Chris Benjamin said...

fantastic warm fuzzies.

on a less romantic note, i used to play soccer with a guy who prided himself on throwing the opposition's best player off his game. this guy was fast and great at 'shadowing' the best player on the other team. but worse than the shadowing was his constant taunting. his favourite was this: "I know how many freckles you have!" the implication being that he was on the guy's ass so tight they had that level of intimacy. looking back it was genius. evil genius.

Ultra Toast Mosha God said...

Benji kind of snapped me out of my fuzzies there.

Katelin said...

aww that is so sweet, i love it.

Therapeutic Ramblings said...

My hands just know what feels right.....so true PP.

Jocelyn said...

This may be as near to a love poem as you ever write, eh?

I prefer it over many-a-sonnet I've read.

Anonymous said...

Incredibly poignant and lovely.

I really need to catch up on your posts.

Miss A said...

awww nice x

alexa @clevelandsaplum said...

awwww. talk about warm fuzzies!!!

Rahul said...

how many does he have? 6? 7?

Need to know!

Jamie Lovely said...

I love this.

Anonymous said...

Thank Goodness Memorial Day is coming. I need a vacay, especially after reading this! :)

Yoda said...

Some places are harder than others, yes?

;-)

Anonymous said...

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How do I set the reader to only show new items?
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I didn't understand the directions for adding a site to my reader by clicking and dragging. Even though I have it set up, when I look in my Favorites, there is no button there...
And what are Starred Items all about?

I have mrs4444@new.rr.com and bforsberg@new.rr.com