Monday, January 30, 2012
Oddity, Week 2
I was sitting across from the man who is now my husband at dinner early on in our relationship. I noticed when he chewed that his lips puckered and protruded slightly to form a perfect little heart shape. This was caused by the fullness of his bottom lip and the relatively thin, yet perfect, arcs of his upper lip being pursed together in a slight kissing motion, bringing the outside corners of his mouth into line with the down-turn of the arcs of his upper lip. He, of course, noticed me studying his mouth and immediately became self-conscious and asked me what I was staring at. When I told him that his lips made a perfect little heart when he chewed, he flushed, said "no they don't," and covered his mouth when he chewed from that point on that night. In spite of the fact that I assure him every time I note it that I find it adorable, til this day he still cannot stand for me to scrutinize his chewing.
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This would be a wonderful detail to bring in to an essay. You'll have to cut any hint of sentimentality, though. Words like "adorable" and "perfect." Just describe the odd way his lips come together as he chews, how they seem to form a perfect heart.
ReplyDeleteWhat I would do, if I were you here, is to start writing on the shape of the heart. Why do we imagine the heart as this symmetrical triangle with one side puckered? We've known for centuries (perhaps even millenia) that the heart looks decidedly different. Yet this iconography persists. We see it everywhere. You see it even in the shape your husband's mouth makes when chewing. Why? Why is there is this harsh discrepancy between what we know the heart really looks like and how we render it in graphic form?
Can you imagine the essay that is titled "The Actual Shape of the Heart"? It would have to skirt the line of sentimentality, but I think this would be a great triggering subject for you.