my first kiss was my brother’s best friend but he was also mine
he and I were in a spiral staircase in a turret, like a castle, but they called it a tabernacle
it later caught fire and burned halfway down
it’s a temple now
holy, I guess
or maybe the devil in me brought her tumbling to her death
I suppose we’ll never know
but it was quick and awkward and electric
like most first kisses are
a whole fifteen seconds of, oh my god
a few days later when my parents asked me if I’d kissed anyone lately I lied and told them no
I should have known that they already knew
someone saw us holding hands at school and gossip runs like a river through these streets like the ditches carrying the irrigation water we still played in
seeping into the neighbor’s yards and into the ears of the gossip whores who couldn’t stop drinking it up
I guess it was delicious to the taste and I was made into Eve after just one kiss
forbidden to see him
like that’s ever worked in the history of ever
it just makes you want it more and I got it, be sure
I let his fingers dance all over me and the clergy heard about this and he told the parents and the parents told their friends and their friends told the others and my sins kept circulating in the streets like the ditches carrying the irrigation water we still played in
silly children
didn’t anyone tell you that the water will make you sick
