my kiss goodbye (edited)

my kiss goodbye starts out
like a skytrain car full of teenagers
all blustery hormone bravado and sweaty-footed self-consciousness

my kiss goodbye launches itself like a jilted marmot sprung loose from a trap
clamps onto your lower lip
it does not let go when you shake and yell
it does not let go when you plead
it resists bribery, threats and ignoring
relenting only when you whistle
(which is hard to do with a marmot latched on to your lip, but you must try)

I want my kiss goodbye to be a sonnet
there are thing that I want this kiss to accomplish
I want it to be elegant, composed, to say more with less
but this kiss is impulsive and contrary
it chews gum in karate practice
runs with scissors
laughs when someone farts
and always takes the biggest cookie

besides, this kiss is hungry
so hungry, it wants to eat all of you now
but it doesn’t, because it likes you too much
instead it eats 2 mangoes, a banana, a clean pair of socks, the HST, the musical “Spring Awakening,” the single transferable voting system and the city of New Westminster
it begins to eat today’s newspaper, realises you haven't read it yet, and stops

my kiss goodbye is a 200 car freight train run-on sentence
a shredded parachute made out of a blue velvet curtain salvaged from a vaudeville theatre
it has holes big enough to put your head through
and dangles participles like lost memories

my kiss goodbye knows that goodbye is already a done deal
still, it lingers in the hallway like the end of a dinner party
recycling run-down conversation
dreading the weather strip FPPtttP of the door
the CLOK of the latch in the frame
it tastes like liberation
smells like neglect

thank goodness this goodbye kiss kept its shoes on when it came over
it steps onto the landing
down the stoop
FFTttP
CLOK
out to the cold, clear night