My left heel has been a little numb the past two months.
It's a trivial thing except my uncle got numb feet 10 years ago

and now he can't work.


So I wonder

What does it feel like,
not to feel?



Jake jumps up on my lap to be petted.
His fur is soooo soft.

He loves being petted so much,
he is drooling.

Now I've had cats all of my life and they're not aloof.

They just want to be touched.


So do I.





Untouched.......

feels hazy....

like my earliest memories of dad


when I was a third grader.




Untouched.....

feels stiff....

like welcome hugs on visits to my mom.



Untouched...

feels nothing


like an unconscious marriage,

rationalized by duty.




And then I met Dawn.
Time dissolved in the warmth of her embrace,
and a torrent of feeling 
flowed from a place I would come to know
as my soul.

Inspired by the breaths we took from each other as we kissed
we made love.

And every square inch of my skin,
tensing... then trembling...
repeating with slowly rising intensity
until neither of us could contain ourselves
as we burst into full body orgasms


and then we began again,
while dawn turned into dusk.


I haven't felt that way since Independence Day - 
Three thousand miles away, 
she's gone
permanently.


But I didn't come here to evangelize, or lecture you,
or start a consumer movement... 
although adding multiple full body orgasms to the base of the food pyramid might be fun.


Just...
maybe consider...

adding a gentle caress on the cheek
when you thank a friend...

or smashing the alarm clock in your brain that regulates how many seconds a proper hug should last.

And you just might help thaw out those people
or yourself
who've gone too long,
untouched.