--ALL THOSE MOMENTS, BOTTLED UP IN WONDER

Kisses

Here is my kiss for you,

untethered, unmasked,

and unbound. 

Don’t say a word. 

Make love to me

with your eyes. 

Let them stagger and bounce

against the faint night light and

I will tell you every secret

you’ve ever asked about. 

It’s time.

My tongue is the most

honest part of me tonight,

the only virgin in this poem,

the one I’ve always wanted to write.

Be rough as you like,

but Shush,

don’t speak, please.

Those butterflies in your hair

are on alert, attentive, and chromatic,

listening for time to end.

I bend into your soul

with the next kiss

and it’s a perfect fit,

wet sand adhering

like unbreakable glass.

You tap messages through

your pelvis, sonnets you compose

with your pulse and uncomposed marrow.

When my kiss reaches your absolute center,

in that locked box near

the back of your throat,

it’s a requisite penetration and

another kind of parting altogether—

lips,

legs,

heart,

eternity,

everything splayed open

yet permanently sealed by

the kiss that keeps on kissing

because it knows no other way.