Liz Scheid
Light-bodied. A hint of tannins on palate.
By tannin, I mean vegetable tannin. A biomolecule. An astringent. Bitter plant polyphenolic.
I mean less sugar. A thin slip on tongue. Like water. Less alcohol.
By medium-bodied, I mean more tannins. Less pucker. As in Merlot, Chianti, Shiraz.
By full-bodied, I mean highest tannins. More alcohol. Heavier to swallow. Like milk.
By body, I mean density, texture, and weight of wine on tongue.
By tongue, I mean taste. I mean papillae. As in circumvallate, foliate and fungiform papillae.
By tongue, I mean flavor: an intricate intermingling of sensory input composed of gustation, olfaction, and the palpable sensation of food as it is being chewed. Mouthfeel.
By mouthfeel, I mean kissing. A complex muscular maneuver involving thirty-four facial muscles and one hundred twelve postural muscles.
I'm talking about lips. Nerve endings. Lots. An erogenous zone.
I'm getting to sex. As in bonding and affection. As in desire and emotion. By desire and emotion, I mean instinctual.
I mean validation.
I mean survival.
Sex as holiness. As meant-for-reproduction. Or as meant-for-instant gratification. As in attraction.
By holiness, I mean un-married. Un-wed.
I mean you and I.
Bodies falling into each other like magnets.
As in meant-for-each-other.
As in how do you know?
By sexual desire, I mean libido. As in energy.
Such as; increased sexual energy fourteen days prior to menstruation.
Such as; women who consume one or more glasses of wine each day have stronger libidos.
As in me.
As in I'm getting there. Involuntary limbic system: or Paleomammalian brain: or structures including the hippocampus, amygdala, anterior thalamic nuclei, septum, limbic cortex and fornix: or regions which support functions including behavior, emotion, long-term memory and olfaction.
By limbic, I mean limbus. I mean border. I mean edge.
I mean limber.
By getting there, I mean muscle spasms in the lower pelvic region.
By pelvic, I mean ring of bones.
I mean between the legs and torso.
What connects the backbone to the thighbones.
By pelvic, I mean pregnant.
I'm referring to conception. As in unknown. Unprotected. Under-the-influence of.
Under-you.
I've been fertilized.
Not to be confused with fermentation: yeast interacting with sugars in juice to create ethanol and carbon dioxide. A by-product.
Incidentally speaking.
As in egg and sperm.
I'm referring to the night I found out.
I'm referring to the red wine I drank.
I'm referring to light-bodied. Loose limbs.
I'm referring to how you had to pick me up from the party.
I'm referring to how I mentioned I was late.
As in two days.
I'm referring to the test we bought at Walgreens. A test strip. Dipstick. Slipped between legs.
I'm referring to the bathroom at Carl's Junior.
By slipping between the legs, I mean sexually active.
By pregnant, I mean positive. A plus sign.
As in yes-it's-really-there.
By pregnant, I mean the human chorionic gonadotropin or hCG hormone was present.
By pregnant, I mean hard-to-swallow. Like milk.
Like semen. An organic fluid, which may contain spermatozoa.
Which yours did.
By spermatozoa, I mean a moving haploid cell. A male gamete.
An intermingling with the ovum to form a zygote.
By zygote, I mean a single cell. I mean chromosomes. DNA and protein.
By chromosomes, I mean complex.
By complex, I mean a good wine should have many flavors and aromas.
I mean emotional reactions are complex, competing.
As in somatic theories: body responses are essential to emotions.
As in the James-Lange theory: changes in environment or situations mean changes in bodily states, i.e. awareness of the bodily changes as they happen is the emotion.
Or neurobiological theories: the emotion is pleasant or unpleasant, which is a mental state organized in the limbic system of the mammalian brain.
Or cognitive theories: As in judgments, evaluations or thoughts are essential for an emotion to happen. By this, they mean intent. By this, they mean conscious or unconscious.
By intent, I mean we didn't intend to.
By this, I mean purpose.
By this, I mean a complex emotional reaction is healthy.
As in harmony. Mind. Body. Spirit.
I mean, falling apart.
As in a sudden drop.
As in a sudden loss of clarity. As in transparency.
As in a fear of failure.
As in a survival mechanism.
By this I mean, fight or flee.
By this, I mean we don't have to.
By this, I mean it's not always one or the other.
I mean adaptation.
By adaptation, I mean enhancement.
By enhancement, I mean none of this is instinctual.