The Quiet Pleasure of Helping: Hannah Emerson's The Kissing of Kissing
Part of the Afterimages NaPoMo series
"I think that people with autism are born outside the regime of civilization. Sure, this is just my own made-up theory, but I think that, as a result of all the killings in the world and the selfish planet-wrecking that humanity has committed, a deep sense of crisis exists. Autism has somehow arisen out of this. Although people with autism look like other people physically, we are in fact very different in many ways. We are more like travelers from the distant, distant past. And if, by our being here, we could help the people of the world remember what truly matters for the Earth, that would give us a quiet pleasure."
—Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism
Hannah Emerson's debut poetry collection, The Kissing of Kissing, is the first of Milkweed Editions' new Multiverse series, featuring neurodivergent poets. Emerson's poems carry a refreshing luminescence we seldom get in modern times. Although veering off from the cycle of bleak media riddled with sobering and grim projections of present and future crises, The Kissing of Kissing is no different. Instead, these poems are a dire call to action, equally frank and urgent as the many vital poetry collections of the times.
Emerson's poems differ in a couple of ways. Firstly, the uplifting feeling and inherent luminescence radiating from these poems are as productive as they are gorgeous. Once you become acquainted with Emerson's poems—as in, gaining remote comprehension through numerous read-throughs—the more apparent it becomes that The Kissing of Kissing serves as instruction that, if implemented, would assist humanity in our procrastinated attempt to sharply shift trajectories away from annihilation and toward a better and beauty-rich future.
Among the increasing suffering and natural threats posed by nature and toward each other, humanity is juggling several existential crises. In turn, contemporary literature has published voices adding to the canon of their respective slices of the human condition. Narratives of shared struggles from different backgrounds and experiences complement Emerson's work. The Kissing of Kissing is advice for the whole of humanity—not as a conglomerate of individual people—but rather as the collective consciousness. Universal connection to each other and the natural world paves the way to harmonious living. Call it what you will—God, the natural world, Source, or, as Emerson states, "the mother." (Pg. 84). This idea is further delved into, as seen in this excerpt of the poem "FILL YOUR ARMS":
Please try only to go
to the place that is just
trying kissing us yearning
to love this moment instead
of hating it yes. Please try to kiss
this place that is probing our sweet
soul that is trying to understand just
what the hell is going on yes. Please
help kiss the process that is happening
in this world now yes. Please fill your arms
with the bear the heart the monkey the horse
the kissing kissing kissing that they bring to us
today yes…
(48).
How we reach this state is to cut through the ego. The ego is that linear, seemingly permanent identity that is, consciously or unconsciously, filtering even your interpretation of my words through life experiences, biases, interests, goals, the love of poetry, past traumas, and cultural upbringing—this personal perspective serves as your mind's filter.
When was the last time you thanked someone for insulting a core facet of your identity? Did they change your mind about a controversial issue with real-world consequences? Kudos to you if this aligns with your experience, but for the vast majority, hostility does not end in a peaceful compromise in which no residual resentment of the other remains. Emerson asks us to pause our idea of utopia, which requires deep introspection of the "I." She writes, "you must grow down/to grow up yes" (23).
Please get that helpful kissing
just needs to be gathered into this
helpful kissing trying hell of this life
to go forward to help me Hannah
Hannah Hannah yes yes. Please
get that you need loving kissing
to make you like me yes yes.
Please get that the kissing must
be great knotting of you me great
us together in this hell yes yes yes.
Please get that you kiss me helping
me kiss you yes yes.
(64).
From third to eleventh grade, I was placed in eight different schools to learn the skills necessary to live independently. In 5th grade, I was the only speaking autistic student in a classroom of exclusively non-speaking autistic students. I share this because due to my experience, the complexity and timelessness of Emerson's wisdom were not surprising. As commonly known, those on the spectrum often experience heightened sensory input. For me, loud noises, and particular fabrics, like velvet and denim, were unbearable for a long time.
You should read and reread Emerson's invitation as a student. There is a considerable difference between enlightenment on an intellectual level and enlightenment as a lived-through experience. We as a collective still need to put in the work; Emerson has led us to water; we must choose to drink to survive "Keep/out. Find your own//light." (11). We must acknowledge The Kissing of Kissing as one of the most important texts of the moment, deserving to be deemed an objectively critical addition to the literary canon and read as such for a long, long time—yes yes.
The Kissing of Kissing
By Hannah Emerson
Published by Milkweed Editions
112 Pages, 5.50 x 8.50 in.
Paperback: 9781571315496 | March 2022 | $16.00
Matthew Feinstein is a neurodivergent poet originally from Tracy, California. He holds a BA in English - Creative Writing from CSU Long Beach and is currently an MFA candidate at Randolph College. His poems have appeared in Poetry Online, HAD, Heavy Feather Review, Inflectionist Review, Kissing Dynamite, and elsewhere. He served as a poetry reader for Revolute Magazine and co-founded Plum Recruit Magazine. In addition, he is a poetry reader for Pidgeonholes and the author of Breeds of Breath (Alien Buddha Press, 2020)