And it seemed to her that kisses, voices, tinkling spoons, laughter, the smell of crushed grass were somehow inside her.
Katherine Mansfield
A kiss on the forehead-erases misery. I kiss your forehead.
A kiss on the eyes-lifts sleeplessness.
I kiss your eyes.
A kiss on the lips-is a drink of water.
I kiss your lips.
A kiss on the forehead-erases memory.
M Tsvetaeva, translated by Ilya Kaminsky
Woodcut illustration for the poem The Death of Oenone by Horace Moule, 1860George BarbierHeinrich Lefler (7 November 1863, Vienna – 17 March 1919, Vienna) was an Austrian painter, graphic artist and stage designer Rose BelleGustaf Tenggren (c 1920) from Grimm’s MarcenchatzMarcello Dudovich, 1905René François Xavier Prinet, The Sonata 1901Robert Weaver (July 5, 1924- September 4, 1994) American illustratorFive O’Clock Tea by Peter NewellThe Kiss of the oceans – postcard from 1923The Kiss, Malcolm T Liepke, a contemporary American painter known for his loosely brushed yet nimbly executed depictions of figures in interior settings.Woman’s World Magazine Jul Aug 1920Marc Chagall – (1887 -1985 Gli innamorati in verde, 1915 or 16Avon Books – 187 – Viña Delmar – The Love Trap cover art by Ann Cantor 1949Life Magazine – October 31, 1912 – Indian SummerMargarita Sikorskaia, 1968The Sudden Heart, Saturday Evening Post, May 20, 1950, illustration by Ray ProhaskaBy Kay Nielsen (1886-1957) ‘The Lovers Perish in the Fire’ f. Arabian Nights, 1917ROBERT G. HARRIS (American, 1911-2007), A Kiss From Johnny, McCalls Magazine, 1952‘Aggrappati alla Grappa Gavardo’, ’Grasp the ‘Gavardo’ Grappa’, 1947, pun because grappa is also called graspaCentaur Kiss – George Leonnec (1924)Francesco Hayez, Italian 1791-1882 Il bacio (The kiss) 1859A kiss under the parasol by Luděk Marold, 1895Genji Monogatari cover (Tale of Genji)TOM LOVELL (American, 1909-1997) The KissFashion Store, Moon Eclipse, 22 septembre 1820 Une Modist (…), anonymous, 1820Il-Bacio-The-Kiss-1900-Ambrogio-Antonio-AlciatiVampire’s Kiss illustration by Max Ernst, 1934, a collage from his work Une Semaine de Bonte (A Week of Kindness).Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910), for Lermontov anthology (1891)Yuri Ivanovich Pimenov (1903-1977)Felix VallottonNo Kiss for Kate, Woman’s Day, 1953 by Macaulay (Mac) ConnerSer-Leone-American-20th-Century-The-Underwater-Kiss-paperback-coverIsobel-Lilian-Gloag-UK-1865-1917-The-Knight-and-the-Mermaid-or-‘The-Kiss-of-the-Enchantress.-Inspired-by-the-poem-Lamia-by-John-KeatsArthur Sarnoff (American, 1912-2000) The Man Who Had No Heart 1953
Don’t Talk, Kiss, Enzo Apicella, 1988
“The whole point of being gay is that we get to make up our own rules. We get to hug and kiss and touch our friends (as long as they want us to) and erase the lines, not just blur them.”
CONTEMPORARY FICTION SET IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (2023)
On paper, things look fine. Sam Dennon recently inherited significant wealth from his uncle. As a respected architect, Sam spends his days thinking about the family needs and rich lives of his clients. But privately? Even his enduring love of amateur astronomy is on the wane. Sam has built a sustainable-architecture display home for himself but hasn’t yet moved into it, preferring to sleep in his cocoon of a campervan. Although they never announced it publicly, Sam’s wife and business partner ended their marriage years ago due to lack of intimacy, leaving Sam with the sense he is irreparably broken.
Now his beloved uncle has died. An intensifying fear manifests as health anxiety, with night terrors from a half-remembered early childhood event. To assuage the loneliness, Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness Project:
