From the onion dip to the chips

"I drunk too much wine at a party last fall, found myself quoting Muriel Rukeyser to Geoff Maines, all about the backside, the body's ghetto, singing her words, 'Never to go despising the asshole nor the useful shit that is our clean clue to what we need.'

'The clitoris in her least speech', he sang back, and I loved him for that with all my soul. We fed each other fat baby carrots and beamed at our own enjoyment.

'Ah, the ass', Geoff intoned, 'the temple of the gods.' I giggled, lifted a carrot in a toast, matched his tone. 'And the sphincter - gateway to the heart.'

He nodded, licked his carrot, reached down, shifted a strap, and inserted that carrot deftly up his butt. He looked up at me, grinned, rolled a carrot in my direction, raised one eyebrow. 'Least speech', I heard myself tell him. Then I hiked up my skirt and disappeared that carrot, keeping my eyes on his all the while. There was something about his expression, a look of arrogant conviction that I could not resist.

'Lesbians constantly surprise me', was all Geoff said, lining up a row of little baby carrots from the onion dip to the chips, pulling the dish of butter over as well. He handed me another carrot. I blinked, then watched as he took one for himself. 'I propose the carrot olympics, a cross-gender, mutually queer event', he challenged. I started to laugh as he rolled buttery carrots between his palms. His face was full of laughter, his eyes so blue and pleased with himself they sparkled. 'All right', I agreed. How could I not? I pulled up the hem of my skirt, tucked it into my waistband, took up the butter, and looked Geoff right in the eye. 'Dead heat, or one on one?'"

(Her body, Mine and His, Dorothy Allison, 1985. Em Skin: talking about sex, class & literature, Firebrand Books, 1994)