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Janet Orlene

How to Kiss a Poet

Kiss me in poetry

The words that tumble on my skin

Like the first rain.

Or in outbursts of shattered glass

Or the traffic I get stuck in at 8pm every night from work that seems to be as winding as the roads as take to reach home.

Kiss like you do not have words

Like the solitary tear in the sister's eye when she learns that she is the head of the family, and waves her last goodbye

Kiss like grass

Growing without a care

Anywhere

Kiss like an earthquake

Earth shattering moments

Kiss like rock paper scissors

Like rock just beat paper

Kiss like the awkward angles of my anatomy

Never got into the way of this kiss

Kiss like watching snow for the first time

Kiss me like a poet

Always unsure of words

Until it happens

Kiss me like wearing headphones, music blaring, and running down a mountain and your feet knows exactly what to do

Kiss like someone who always jumps for the first time in a puddle

Kiss like eating messy pani puri without ever knowing how

Kiss like mum's turmeric

Always sprinkling food

Kiss like coconut oil on skin

After eating well blotted deep fried pazham pori in the rain that still manages to smear you with oil anyway

Kiss like a three year old watching his first rainbow across the sky

Kiss like stars winking at night

Kiss like trains so full of people

Always carrying someone, something to somewhere new

Kiss like a baby bird with mouths open wide

Or like lizards bathing in the sun

Or like bathing in the sun


Kiss like Death,

Like there is nothing more sweet, more inevitable

Kiss like if you were dancing

When you knew that the last bomb you'll ever hear is dropped

Like the past does not matter

Like the future does not seek you

Like this moment is all you have.


- Janet Orlene



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