Le Poke

The Poke

Most commonly, well now most commonly available on the social networking site, Facebook, the Poke is a way to give affection, get attention, make innuendo or in other popular poking situations: it is the act of sex. The problem with the Facebook “poke” is that it is a word implying a concept once known as an action. At Ye Olde Porne Shoppe where I work, we're all about action.

Poking is a potentially aggressive act, with the thrusting and the contact. In my private life, which I keep VERY away from my day job, it usually means that I've been unjustly tickled because my friends think it's funny that I scream and giggle like a 6-year-old.

Where investigation means copulation:
We've often poked things we were unsure of: a cloth on the floor; creepy, robotic toys we don't know are still on; that guy passed out in the dorm's tv lounge. I find that when confronted with a wall of dildos and vibrators, many people are unsure. Then they are seduced by the “try me” circle of texture. Sometimes it's just a nub of material, others it is a mini-mouth willing to kiss their curious finger.

I'm sure somewhere, a psychologist, maybe a Freudian has a checklist of sexual encounter stages like the coping with grief list or the Cass sexual identity model. In the wall o' dil that we have there's approach, reconnaissance, reach, and contact.

Bolder folks will march up, unawed and poke—solid and firm pokes—as if it were their right. If it pleases them, they will poke and feel and move on to poke and prod other nubs and lips and circles of amusement. If they're present on business, they'll squish the packaging (Please Don't). These are the sexual people. This is not their sex, merely a hurdle between them and what might be the real thing.

I prefer to watch growth rather than practice. Like wide-eyed deer-babies, they step to the wall. Sometimes they stay a shelf back...usually until they realize that there's penises on everything (nothing's safe). Often, they will side to side and peruse this wonder. Most back off, or search or wait for some note of disapproval or disavowal. Maybe they fear their conservative, oppressive mother is secretly in our employ, waiting. At this point, some have decided it is safe; they poke with the best of them—it's usually not predatory but certainly with an air of confidence. For many, the quick sideways glance was not enough to assure them they were not in violation of some unknown law. They force a shaky arm and very seldom make eye-contact with the goal as if, when 'caught' they could claim ignorance of the action of their limbs.

“I didn't even see it happen.”

Both sides make contact. No one jumps at them, and if they were brave enough to pick some cavernous, cyberskin lips, they seem quite pleased to note they have not become an amputee.
By now they are well assured...proportionally, in the safety of their sexuality and repeat the process with different things. Sexuality has been breached. Will they buy anything that's not incense or a bumpersticker? Hell no. They might not even be able to meet a vibrator in the eye yet, but the gate is up and the race is ready to begin.

This is about as voyeristic as I get; I like that maybe I work at a place where people learn about themselves and their friends. It's like each tester spot is a button that makes noise, like keys on a piano or stops on a clarinet and people with their poking play a symphony throughout the day.