Inspired Bye
for N.B.B.

snuff, tobacco,
wad of one or the other
in the jaw to chew
to get the juice out, to spit out

juicy fruit kisses
I’ve collected over the years
none as sweet as one shared tonight
with goodbye

that fraction of a minute
to sweeten so many bitter minutes
passed as well as to come

fruits year round to pick
with fingertips, with lips

all the fruits of which she’s made
in a list to get at
juices of them all in a kiss to sip

ii
am I pretty enough
for such a kiss
even now I wonder
am I deserving of it
just a single plum stolen
from her husband's tree
for me to swallow
she put in my mouth
push it in, shove it in
I have so few sweets
to live off, to live on
her husband has the tree
owns the tree or does she
she gave me one anyway
shoved into my mouth
fleshy, moist, pink lips
pressed against mine
in the dark, late in the night
she had to hurry home
intellect and a kiss, two sweets
for one deserving mouth
an undeserving man

iii
time brings as well as takes away
I do not like the bills it brings
without bringing money to pay them
I like how time dilutes a moment,
an occurrence as noxious as poison
time like more and more water
dilutes it as it widens out
until what was as if thrown in,
becomes less and less sharp, less harsh
until what was too much to handle
is insignificant—time acts similarly
upon joy, upon what’s too sweet
for words


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
12:39 a.m. 9/11/07