we were peering into mouths
touching lips with fingers
to see where kisses come from
to see why
and what the inside of a kiss is

we'll get to the bottom of this!
we say as lovers of science
or we’ll die trying

our lips will be astronauts
on a voyage of discovery

we were pressing hands
to rib cages
to keep hearts from exploding out

we were screaming into mouths
listening for moonlight

our pieces were falling off
our bodies moving touching
coming towards
coming together
we didn't have time
to collect them all
they became mixed up
with each other on the floor

we were rescue breathing
into each others mouth

we were collecting each other's
pieces in armfuls
weaving them into a nest