Editor’s note: Zack Rogow serves as Poetry Editor of the Santa Cruz-based Catamaran Literary Reader. He is also the author, editor, or translator of 20 books or plays. His seventh book of poems, “My Mother and the Ceiling Dancers,” was published by Kattywompus Press. In addition, he is the editor of an anthology of poetry featuring work by leading writers in the United States, called “The Face of Poetry,” published by University of California Press. Currently, he teaches in the low-residency MFA writing program at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Questions about Kissing
When does a kiss end?
How far does a kiss travel?
Are kisses the food of the tongue?
How many people are in one kiss?
How many jellyfish, orangutans, lynxes?
What is the half-life of a kiss?
What parts of your own body have you kissed?
What is the opposite of kissing?
Which kisses do you remember best?
Which of the Seven Wonders of the World was built for a kiss?
How do kisses break into prisons?
What do tongues say when they meet?
Who taught your lips to swim?
Through what tent flap do kisses enter dreams?
Who kissed Marco Polo in China?
What books are printed with lipstick?
What musical instruments are cousins of teeth?
Which is the best wing of the body to kiss?
When does a kiss begin?
Reading to the Kids
Wizards wield brittle light,
fencing to the death.
Dragons sneeze blazes
that incinerate whole landscapes.
Angled ogres lug clubs.
Shredding armies,
gryphons flex scimitar nails.
In the soft arms
of the sofa,
parent and child
lean into each other
reading together.
