before eating mangoes with you
i didn't understand what it was
to eat a mango
i had heard that mangoes were a sensual fruit,
& that to eat a mango was to make love to a woman
a friend told a story
she and her girlfriend had been offered mango pits
to suck on.
but i don't understand, i said, what part of the vuvla
is the pit supposed to be?
i was too literal
but now i see
the heady purfume
the sweet tender flesh
the juice that covers your face
trickles down your chin
the hairs that stick in your teeth.
i understand what it is to eat a mango.

now when i eat mangoes
i take the fruit in both hands
pressing my nose against the coolness
of her skin i breathe deeply
my nostrils fill with her scent
how wonderful you smell, mango, i murmur.
i tenderly peel back her covering
and lick the juice that clings to it
i eat the mango slowly.
i savour each bite, the sensation of her flesh
on my fingers
caress the mango with broad strokes of my tongue
letting her nectar fill my mouth
coat my nostrils
cover my cheeks and chin in glistening sticky sweetness
i pause to lick each finger clean
how delicious you are mango.
thank you for giving yourself to me.
i wipe my mouth with the back of my hand
and lick it clean
so none of the mango goes to waste
at long last the ritual is finished
i give my fingers a final suck
before laying back to enjoy my fullness
her juice still upon my face
and her name upon my tongue
both the mango and i
completely, utterly spent.

06/28/2003

Posted on 03/29/2010
Copyright © 2025 Sarah George