In this commentary, the author provides an examination of Michael Cunningham’s 2005 narrative Specimen Days, which is composed of a trio of novellas that tells stories of three separate, yet related time periods. By positioning this narrative in relation to perspectives of human desire, feeling and migration, the author explains how Specimen Days speaks to cultural scripts and performances of daily life. In particular, Cunningham’s narrative can be interpreted as being a multilayered allegory concerned with the social relations of intimacy including the ways people experience non-normative forms of amative sociality across a bevy of contexts.