KISSING FEAR

1 1 7 R K I S S I N G F E A R V A L E R I E W O H L F E L D Invalid’s mouth chilled on ice chips! Then sudden flame of ash: lit love letter! The little stilled mouth as on a doll, the lip false and painted and the porcelain’s cheap kiss back. Like a cornucopia where one bites the bitter marble fruit. To sip the cold ice chip! Glassed troubled mercury: some fire grips the lit love letter and tears are shed without regret. The little stilled mouth on a doll, the lip as if some brush mark’s mistake in the stripe of glaze. The doll neither smiling nor unsmiling, a coquette; invalid’s mouth chilled on ice chips and the kiln-hardened clairvoyant lips that transfer fear to fear, and taste of gunmetal. The little stilled mouth of a doll, the lip inhuman, all mimicry, and in the china slip poured to its mold the vignette of the invalid, with mouth chilled on ice chips! The little stilled mouth as on a doll’s hollow lips! ...