Laundry List of Frogs

One kissed me like fast food
Impatience and hunger
trademarkedly forgettable
driving off quickly
feeling sick later

Another kissed me like Halloween
masquerading in the dark
for something he wasn’t, I wasn’t
planting sweetness upon sweetness
comfortably scary, exciting
our mouths moved together with
thick sap-like sugar
each kiss like knocking on a strangers door
We kissed until I had cavities, and the sugar-rush wore off
I’ve never had much of a sweet-tooth

Still another kissed me like a snow day
seasonal and fleeting
long-awaited, spontaneous
the element of surprise, an unexpected occurrence
something I’d hoped for endlessly
but eventually, the heavy cold got to me
and I remembered that snow days aren’t always
what you expect them to be
so I took off my mittens
and returned home to warm my bones
and make up the work I’d neglected

One kissed me like a child
soft and gentle
knowing and sweet
condescending, arrogant
and in charge.
I raised an eyebrow, from time-out
I built a wall of my building blocks
to protect my child’s heart
and, like the day a son’s stature
reaches above that of his father
I out-grew these kisses
exchanged them for freedom
and blazed my own path

One kissed me like a lion cub,
predatory and fierce
not yet understanding his own strength
he sunk in his teeth and tried for my jugular
thinking this to be romantic,
the fastest way to (stop) my heart
I’m not sure he knew
I’m no gazelle
but a wild jackal
and I, finding he being groomed for king
bounded off towards the red African sun

There have been others
like cotton candy and like licorice
like saltwater and like mud puddles

However
I’ve yet to be kissed
like cursive letters,
or a sunrise-soaked walk,
like a summer rain
or like piano keys

but
I’m young
and
there’s time
to keep trying.