Lips-Kiss-Pray Two-Together-Always

Creator

He/Him/His

Title

Lips-Kiss-Pray Two-Together-Always

Date

2019

Medium

Poetry

Rights

The RIT/NTID Dyer Arts Center retained rights from artists or next of kin on April 8, 2020

Text

poems by RAYMOND LUCZAK

LIPS-KISS-PRAYTWO-TOGETHER-ALWAYS I
TWO PEOPLE KISSING FOR THE FIRST TIME IS ALWAYS AN ACT OF PRAYER
in ASL gloss and English

[ open palm only ]

long -ago out- there
snow-fell-slowly snow -on-ground-rose-slowly
trees out- there snow-on-ground-rose-slowly-to-nose
skies darkened body-shiver-cold almost -dead eyelids-droopy dreams feverish

[ index finger only ] person-walk-distant- approach
me -th irsty sun aim-down- at- me
ray spin -drill- between -eyes
head lightning person-stand-tilt
person spin -fall- bounce -bounce person-on-ground head-spinn ing
spin spin spin

[ open palm and index finger ] gusts wind not-matter
two- people-app roach ing-each-other
kiss-each- other pray lips- kiss- pray two- together - always

1.

A lifetime ago snow fell slowly but surely. It rose so high. Trees everywhere were consumed by white. Eventually night came.
I struggled to stay awake, but the weight of my eyelids pulled me closer to my death in a fit of feverish madness.




2.

I saw him first in the distance. He had the walk of thirst.
The desert sun had bore its rays relentlessly on him
until he couldn't see ahead of him. His mind was split in half.
He tried to stand for as long as he could, but he whirled and crashed
into an oasis of hallucinations.


3.

No matter the weather,
two people kissing for the first time is always an act of prayer.

The ASL gloss portion of the poem first appeared in We A re N ot Your Meta phor:A Disability Poet ry Anth ology (Zoeglossia Fellows, ed.; Squares & Rebels, 2019).

Citation

Raymond Luczak and He/Him/His, “Lips-Kiss-Pray Two-Together-Always,” RIT/NTID Dyer Arts Center , accessed March 29, 2024, https://dyerartscenter.omeka.net/items/show/93.