IF YOU HAVE KISSED ME THEN YOU KNOW

i devoured him
as if he were a cherry in my mouth
all of them

i have
dived into
as if they were the sea

heads underwater
tongues serpentining
throats

and every one of them
would take me back
every one of them

still dream the same dream

if you have kissed me then
you know what i mean

the greatest gift
you can give a lover

is to allow them to breathe
underwater

everything seems so close
until you get    closer

everything seems so daffodil  
until you learn how to swim

but i have never mistook a tidal wave
for a broken halo or a spool of thread

though more than once i have mistaken a body
for a promise i wanted to keep

above all i believe
we are as trivial as we are burning

above all i believe
all men are born free

kiss me kiss me kiss me, my sweet 

kiss me and you will know what i mean


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(this poem was inspired by the works of Sylvia Plath)