TOUCH

As he combs out my wet hair
the hairdresser’s stout chest
presses against my shoulder

and at the dentist’s yesterday
–her latex-covered fingers
probing my mouth-

I felt, despite the armor
of her white coat, that
animal heat. Impersonal,

these touches, but so
redolent and deep, like
sleeping side by side

breathing in each other’s warmth.
I mean, what else are we if not
these bodies? In such accidental

encounters discovering again
the first language
we’re all born knowing.

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