love

Stolen Moments

What happened, happened once. So now it's best
in memory -- an orange he sliced: the skin
unbroken, then the knife, the chilled wedge
lifted to my mouth, his mouth, the thin
membrane between us, the exquisite orange,
tongue, orange, my nakedness and his,
the way he pushed me up against the fridge --
Now I get to feel his hands again, the kiss
that didn't last, but sent some neural twin
flashing wildly through the cortex. Love's
merciless, the way it travels in
and keeps emitting light. Beside the stove
we ate an orange. And there were purple flowers
on the table. And we still had hours.

-- Kim Addonzio
Poetry, September, 1999



mmm. i love this poem. do you love this poem? do you not love this poem? do you want to marry this poem or take it home to meet your mother? tomorrow, will you kiss this poem hard on the lips? will you fatten this poem up with chocolate?

do you not love this poem?

i love this poem.