Jeff Burt

Kiss

There are more things that kiss than lips

Light kisses, the manner in which the sun is said to smooch a petal
or an old woman’s face while she waits for the bus

A basketball is said to kiss off the glass of a backboard
before falling softly through the net

A baseball lofting into the sky and falling far away
is said to have been kissed

And one lucky enough to have won twice at games of chance
is said to have been kissed by the gods
that we say no longer exist

the way a white blossom floats on a lake
a boat slides into water
a mother bird lands on her chicks
a foot slides into a slipper

and death, the kiss of, the betrayal, the loss,
buss of treachery,
peck of gone,

but none of these replaces
your uplifting hinting
years-of-perfection smack