Monday, February 13, 2006

Do You Want to Make Love?


So when I ask you: “Do you want to make love?” it is not a demand or a solicitation. It is a celebration of life. It is always the most salient question, the most salutary. It is the best question. It is not about sex or drugs -though it can involve both those things. It is a sentimental question, yet devoid of all sordidness.

It is not a question that can have anything behind it, anything begging, like “How are you doing?” or “What are you doing?” No, “Do you want to make love” presumes nothing, that you feel well or sad or even like making love. Instead it offers itself.

It is a gift with no strings attached. Particularly if posed in the afternoon. It’s a completely innocent and well meaning question like: “Are you hungry?” Not like: “Do you want some gum?”

It is really more of a remark, but with no perlocutionary or undesirable illocutionary force: consider such uncontaminated remarks as: “Wow, cool shoes” or “Look, a Narwhale!”, versus the patently comprimised “You look nice today” or “Thanks for coming.”

It is an expression that really thinks the best of people like “gesundheit”, not the worst like “Jesus loves you.” It belongs among the great innocuous and beneficial expressions of mankind along with “au revoir”, “ciao”, “aloha” and “move along”.

So when I ask you: Do you want to make love? Do not feel pressured, importuned or perplexed. It is a celebration of life. And of you. It is like the cry of a bird and as beautiful.


you are not alone

NUMBER 47, WEEK 35, WORD COUNT TO DATE: 39, 394
NEXT BY 22 FEBRUARY 2006

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you want to unmake love? Pull it apart, slowly, bit by bit. Grind off the sharp edges. Flatten it until it is as thin as a piece of paper and as transparent as an old, glass window that has slowly dripped down toward the bottom of the window frame.

Then it could be slipped under doors. Instead of a greeting it becomes a letter. Maybe even a covert operation, inflitrating the homes of persons unware of the letter slipped under their doors, into the heart of their homes.

Jordan said...

That's what I would've said if I hadn't been menstruating, but I think I should've said, "Do you want to come watch the sun set with me and Sarah?"

Unknown said...

No, "do you want to make out?" is a great question, and one that I'm quite partial to. It's that my nose whistling distracts ME.

Jordan said...

Nose whistling is a serious condition. It's almost as serious as farting during sex, which is a malady that I suffer from.