Melt, I, too, so callously as those uninformed, who kiss me
at the end of a date. If allowed, I would kiss up to 300,000 times
Is it true I’m a liar? True to you. Basing this based on what?
I nick you and your baseless accusations. With your say, too,
I refute such heresy. Not so dense are the horrors
like if my ions exploded after a kiss from you.
Translator Notes:
The insinuation is
people who kiss the speaker at the end
of a first date are
callous
and
uninformed
because who does that?
The speaker wants to be kissed, so much so
that it would make her melt, but she wants to be
asked first. Heard of consent?
Not everyone is so lovesick,
but those touch-starved people would be
down for this hyperbolic number
of kisses. Can’t relate?
You haven’t found
“the one” yet.
For an explanation of the last two lines, ask a chemist.
Naveera Majid is a Pakistani-American advocate, poet, writer, and scholar whose work spans poetry, literary criticism, and creative nonfiction. She earned a BA in English from the University of Houston, where she received the Howard Moss Prize in Poetry in 2023 and had her creative nonfiction essay published by the UH Public Art System’s PUBLIC/ATION. Naveera is a Mellon Scholar, Rowan Fellow, and is a three-time Alternate for a UK study award through the U.S. Fulbright Program. She works in development at Rice University, supporting programs that expand access and opportunity for students from historically underrepresented backgrounds.
