Pivotal instant

No
is the answer
is the beginning

Two possible lovers
***********lovers
***********haters
***********indifferenters
***************sitting on a couch
***************standing outside a door
***************lying side by side on a blanket on a beach

facing the inevitable all-consuming moment
***************the question
***************the answer
***********************positive/negative

It has to be negative for the tension the experiment the perpetuation
and in the interval
in the interval between the answer and the real answer

but before the interval:
in the preliminaries before the interval
in the courtship ritual
*****that is the uncertainty
in the moments
when
*****all the genetic triggers
**********passed through eons of surviving wombs
***************in the raw dripping jungles
***************in the frantic hunt
***************in the recovery from oozing injuries
***************in the desperate competition for a mate
***************in the flirting
***************in the groin-stirring chases
***************in the gut-churning joys and failures
***************in the tribal protections and migrations

*****all the social conditioning
*********in the schools and streets and shopping malls
*********in the churches, houses and halls of the laws
***************the rules of elders, clergy, self
***************the advice of ignorant peers
***************the revealed welcoming skin
***************the haunting eyes and hair-touchings
***************the missed phone calls
***************the silence of answering

through that
those preliminaries
to the hot moment of doubt before the
***************leap to
***************proposition

and the resounding refusal
just before the softening
the willingness
the acceptance
the heat
the shallow breathing
contact

Yes
is the answer
is the end