meet me in front of a jazz club

in new orleans; there i’ll kiss you

hard. you have been lover

to me through lives upon deaths, your fingers

spread in my hair, your demolition kiss

a wrecking ball through love affairs

& marriages. but that night, before i knew

your kiss so well, it was & we were two martinis drunk

one after the other; the steering wheel biting

my ribs, my hands clutching at anything

under the headrest behind you.  Surprised at the bar,

still standing when we emerged:

I wondered how, having spent a lifetime of breath

in that one kiss, how the things of this world remain standing.

–Jennifer woodworth

Many thanks to Flashquake, who first published this poemin slightly different form in 2009.