Stuck Straight published in the Spring 2008 issue of The League of Laboring Poets by The League of Laboring Poets It’s the almost kiss that will get you. Kids touch lips these days without hardly a flutter, it’s the restraint that hits the mark. I take kissing very seriously. Bat those wispy eyes in a lesser direction, I’ve seen that smile hung up before on a billboard, poster, or in some ditch. You are all electric when I walk away from you. Being on the edge of the world, understand the pleasure I feel when you finally get it. Got it? All calls lost in black open spaces, debates on proper use of time and the do’s and don’ts of sheer and colored lip gloss, all caught tight in black matter, in our mad hatter sort of brains. Is that love? Four-hour conversations, my ear burning up against the phone. The almost kiss that grazed my neck stuck straight into me, I think you secretly knew, but I didn’t.