His mother warned him.
Too cold. He put his mouth
on a parking meter. Some
people want to taste everything.
A way of knowing. And smell.
A woman can fill your nostrils.
His tongue is marked forever.
It responds to sun and wind.
The calls of certain birds.
It can decipher a double reed.
Consult the Book of Kells.
Paradise is a taste. Fleeting,
like the angle of light under
water frozen two feet thick.