From an Omani Garden

This kiss is as bright
as an azalea blossom
fallen to your chest.

~~~

Penang Tanged

At the Pagoda
of the Ten Thousand Buddhas, this kiss
comes from smiling lips.

~~~

In Shimonoseki

Buddha strums his oud,
four heartstrings in vibration
with this kiss I prayed.

Author’s note: All of these are drawn from my book, Half a World of Kisses, forthcoming in 2021 from Truth Serum Press’s new Lindauer Poets imprint (out of Australia). The collection was written in 2019 during my 108-day World Voyage on the Queen Mary 2 and is comprised of several short poetic forms (haiku, tanka, Fibonacci, etheree, etc.) and represent the kisses I blew homeward from afar to a great love in the US.