“1. Hold everything very carefully unless it is your lover's back. Then, become metal, become teeth, do not gentle yourself for any man. Do not change for the ones who think that you should be softer, less mouth, less voice. You do not owe regrowth to anyone but yourself. When they begin to ask for you to shape yourself around them, leave. Shut the door firmly. Do not look back.
2. Do not waste what you have, use the skin. Lick the insides until there are seeds in your teeth. Share fruit with others, share fruit with your lover. Use your mouth and your tongue to discuss the inner anatomy of a melon. Remember that it is the sweetest on the 28th day, remember that when you open it, it will spill over your hands and his. Lap it up, after, bathe together. Later, you will find seeds between your thighs. Wash again, they lied about cherry trees growing in your stomach, but you never know.
If the pulp is running down your arms, lick off the excess before it reaches your elbows. It's a b.itch to get off, you will have to shower and you will find it everywhere– in your hair, and in all the lines within your palms. You'll taste sweet for days. He'll love it, don't you worry and if he doesn't? Try kiwis instead.
3. I've seen you hold things between your hands and crush them until they are leaking out of the spaces between your fingers. Learn when you need to be gentle, learn to caress instead of squeeze. If you tighten yourself around something that does not want to have you, it will destroy itself trying to escape. It will turn inside out. Do not force it, sigh and let it go. We're not talking about fruit anymore, I hope you know that.
4. There is a secret to the perfect cut and it is all in the holding of the fruit. Grip too tightly and you'll ruin it, not hard enough and it'll slip out of your fingers and your skin will learn the knife. Be careful with yourself, be careful with your hands and sharp objects. When you are eating avocado cut it through the middle, twist, pop out the seed. Do not attempt to eat the seed. This one tastes best in salad, try chicken.
5. When you are holding mangoes be careful with the skin, take too much off and you're wasting the fruit, not enough and it's bitter to the tongue. Take it with you when you fall in love. Be careful with the skin. At dawn take him by the shoulders and lift him to you. Take his mouth and his hands. Undress him softly and then undress him further. When he is shaking in your hands, put your mouth to his ears and tell him that you will love him for as long as you think you can. If it is forever, simply smile. Nibble his ear. Let the light touch him with you.”
— My Mother's Lessons on Peeling Fruit and Keeping Lovers
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