1000 kisses

    A 4th story room that was facing an interior courtyard. Between some buildings that were completing, although not entirely, the circle of the courtyard, there was the scenery of a centuries-old park, with its mature chestnut trees. A piece of forest in the middle of a small city, one time the domain of a wealthy family that had a mansion there. Directly through the opening, a bench was seen right in the middle, under a tree.

    I lived in the 4th story room for 20 years, and my desk was by a window with direct view of the park and that particular bench. Childhood, adolescence, and some of my young age at the same desk, where I did my school stuff and not only; glued there for a while to figure out math, write papers by hand,  or work on small paintings. More often, I would get bored, tired, or distracted, and gaze towards the park through the transparent curtain whose folds would come over the edge of the desk as the waves of the sea.

    The bench may have appeared beautifully remote to lovers in search of a place to hide. So, why not drift away from numbers,  paragraphs,  or colored shapes and look at some kisses? They were not staged-- better than movies, I supposed. With all their awkwardness sometimes: when she was not ready yet and wanted to wait, or when he was taking it too slow...The lovers did not suspect, perhaps, they could be seen and scrutinized. Or not care... But their energy may have helped, as I was trying to get things done...

    So, I would see spring kisses, summer kisses, fall kisses, and winter kisses. Pink kisses with flowers falling, green kisses with rain, yellow kisses with wind blowed hair,  white kisses with puffy coats and snow flakes on chicks. I do not not know how many kisses I saw in 20 years, maybe 1000. And if I stretch enough into the unseen, I would see 1000 love stories floating around that park like leaves in the wind...




Comments

  1. cara forestieriJune 17, 2023 at 3:26 PM

    Seeing those chestnuts on the sidewalks in the fall, I wanted to eat them. But they were not the edible kind. The other day I found edible chestnuts at an Eastern European market where I like to go. Bought a few bags and apparently I am the only one in the family who really likes them. Great :))

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