A User’s Guide to the Interchangeability of Lips

A User’s Guide to the Interchangeability of Lips

1. Lap

Feed the feral cats who drink
from your swimming pool, swift
as little machines. Measure
the amount that can be carried
to the mouth in one lick or scoop
of the tongue. Load and fire
in safety, never in haste.
Break a teapot and float
the pieces to China.

2. Labium

Arrange snapdragons in a jar.
Open the beveled edge, the spout.
Always have a friend who works
in the hotel kitchen. Flow into,
draw the tongue over,
envelop entirely.

3. Embouchure

Say the word prune
while looking at yourself
in a mirror. Study the shape
of your lips, tongue and teeth.
Rub your stubbled jaw against
the mouthpiece of a French horn.
Now you know.
Now you know.
Now you know.