first impressions

first impressions are rarely reliable, but we
accord them special status for a reason,
something about the state of mind in which first
impressions form has its own intrinsic value,
it's called ignorance, it's called not knowing,
it's linked to curiosity, to thought-experiment,
to desire, to eroticism, and it's definitely
linked to love at first sight

lately, i have been sidling up to the idea that
not knowing can be just as valuable as knowing

the experience is disorienting, it is unsettling.
and gradually - because what you are looking at
is so good - it induces rapture!

moving experiences

certain people - we all know the type - like to
say that they don't know much about love, but they
know what they like, it's one of those maddening
formulations, half insecurity, half boast, that
seems intended to drive us and them crazy, so,
loaded is it with insinuations about the pretentiousness
of love and the irrelevance of expertise

the flip side, however, is that thinking you know
a lot about love can get in the way of truly
experiencing it