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.
