kissing

kissing 

is …

All shivers,
Dear friends.

Is it for me
You keep still?

                                        Charles Simic

your tongue

on the tip of

your right forefinger

the one

you use

to turn the page

of the long
overdue library book

whose call number

has changed

twice

since you’ve been alive

whose tongue

and your tongue

teach one another

to acclimate to

new

lovers different

finger-

tips

with their brief

fidelities

whose fixes      

and humilities

dominate and
decimate 

darling you just

do not know

you’ve been

loved so

  

do you?

deep

into the night then

quiet morning

deeper into 
the arriving

praised
or penitent

but not unscathed
never unscathed

            either way

deep into the day

of days

page after page
page after page

of leaf to lips
fingertips (oh god)

to tongues