Kiss

J U N E 1 9 9 7

by Reginald Gibbons

Hear Reginald Gibbons read Kiss (in RealAudio):

RA 28.8, RA 14.4

(For help, see a note about the audio.)

Also by Reginald Gibbons:
The Affect of Elms (1990)

Go to:
An Audible Anthology
Poetry Pages

This charm is green in the red world.
Low leaf that opens anyway
among dry shells, by a hard road.
In the chained world, this charm is free.

A private charm against good-byes
when you and I release each other --
this kiss we give, these orphan cries
we swallow, this turning to a feather.

I kiss your mouth, you kiss me back:
this charm's a statement and reply --
and a seed, a wedge, a way to take
some change into our work today.

This kiss is hidden in the border of night.
Leaf that is ours, love that is green,
give us all more life, more sweet
hours and days together again.

Reginald Gibbons is the author of Sweetbitter (1996), a novel.