smashed by softness of airbags, we'd live,
seat-belted, insured against human error
by human vanity.

the moon bums a cigarette, and the wheels still,
radio broadcasting trees.

my mouth and you.  poles and compasses.
separated by shapes and inches, we
sound mammals of thought.

i know i
will not kiss you.
you know me 
better.

the air and you.
why all these hands and buttons and eyebrows?  your lips,
never a mystery. you 
open there.

closed, 
i will not forget.
icebergs of memory clash in my mind, penguins
refusing to fly, feigning the real.

the night.
apes and lips.
i will not kiss.

remember that devil,
with his silly horns and the mantle of temptation,
waved in front of the innocents, 
painted with sanguine tears?
leave them in your churches - she
lost her tail forever.

sitting, 
splitting seconds across from prayer.
i demand
to sin!

to win.
incubators and their cars. peace and its conferences. man and his ribs.
what of me, 
my starched mouth?

questions, words, redemptive poetics,
he.
he - a cosmonaut of your space.
i - your satellite.
all - late reflections of the expanding.
here, 
here i do not kiss.

fumes propel the car.
roads straighten in the presence of 
love.
i adjust 
my seatbelt.

10.17.98