Poetry (About the Ex/Husband)

First Kiss

On the roof, after the movie, with rain starting
To fall in July
I thought, but didn’t say
“Would it ruin everything
If I kissed you?”

At the bus stop,
When the rain got heavier,
I went to hug you goodbye
Our lips
Met
Easy as breathing



Last Kiss

snuggling in bed
a guilty letter waiting
in the other room
asking (too much) for more
than you can give

You’ll read it
after I’ve gone to work
Before you leave
For a week in Hamilton, London
For now, you’re innocent
Know only that I love you
Not that I’m going
Crazy with longing
For women I can’t have
If I have you

Last kiss is
Loving
Slow and familiar
a week before you walked out the door
tears choking your voice
but not looking back



Suddenly Overwhelming

shifting a tower of boxes
kd lang on the stereo singing
leonard’s Hallelujah
(hallelujah)
I straighten only to slam
My head against the hard
Sharp corner of the mantle
Pain blossoms
Inky
and I’m crying
again
Not sure if the ache I feel comes
from my throbbing skull
Or from your absence
Suddenly overwhelming