Speak for Yourself (installation no. 5?)

So yay for SFYS again. And yay because some of you showed up and some of you read and I love you all a whole dang lot. I must say it's a little intimidating to read with a larger-than-life Anis behind you, but it's nice and also inspirational. I hope you know I paid $50 to get in there because of this: WE'RE PUBLISHING A BOOK. It's full of beautiful things like Avery Taylor and Rachel Smith and me and Roah and I hope you will buy it and read it, because (however biased I am) I think it'll be nice. Plus Kyle's making new t-shirts, and I can't wait because apparently they have some cool skull on them? I don't know. But I'll be sporting one soon enough.

The point is, this was my contribution to SFYS last night, brand new thing, written day of, and here you go. I'll say no more.

Lunch with Eve: Discussions on Apples and other Forbidden Fruits

Eve ate that apple because she was bored.

Sex-starved and overly-curious, she ate it because she could.

I know this because she told me over lunch last weekend.

Allow me to blaspheme for a moment here: Eve, eating that apple,

she was a real first-wave feminist, so, like, take that, Gloria.

And me? I ate my own Forbidden Fruit,

hook, line, and sinker.

So Eve and I discuss liberation and regret.

She says, "Time heals all things."

I'm impatient.

Eve got half the Bible for some catharsis,

but I have another idea: At the age of 17, haikus for

every boy I've ever kissed; some were serpents, some were fruits.

They go like this:

1: Took you long enough,

You darling, awful kisser.

Love you just the same.

2: Your lips are so big,

and I still hate you some days,

but you're so practiced.

3: You said sorry 'til

I believed there were things to

be real sorry for.

4: Your tongue on my teeth,

you hear what you want to hear.

I never said "love."

5: I still think you are

a liar who broke Marley's

fragile innocence.

6: To this day, I think

you are my soul mate, 'cause we

write the same stories.

7: In May, your first kiss.

What we meant was we think you

deserve the kisses.

8: I should have listened

when Connor White told me you

act like a teen girl.

9: By now, I've used up

all the syllables I have

to write about you.

10: That night: French kisses.

My dear, nous l'avons cassé.

Je suis désolé.

11: Paid you with a kiss

for your photography skill.

It was a win-win.

12: You? Forbidden fruit.

I'm dancing with regret now,

but it's not your fault.

So now I ask, "Eve, what now?"

She says this: "Me and you? We sure aren't the Virgin Mary."

The irony is not lost on either of us.

"I'm not much, but I'm all I have."
All my love,
Addy