The evening a man
Melissa Hotchkiss

posted Dec 4, 2007

The evening    (Wednesday)    a man   kissed her   on the forehead   –    –  a window,    light shifted
twice –      in a large room       kiss,      on the forehead     between   and   just above  the eyes  never
having,   been      kissed       like           that

kissed    because   she mentioned         love ,     and    a note    in    red  fine  ink            which spoke
of       barbed wire        see this,        she      said   .. …     ------                He,       grateful         but not
altogether      aware       of       complications,                  had   a         tall face -,-,-         when he kissed
her  the    window moved        and
             O h ,,,           so  did a  box     of   paper

© 2007 Melissa Hotchkiss

Melissa Hotchkiss’s first book of poems, Storm Damage, was published by Tupelo Press in 2002. Her poetry has appeared in The Marlboro Review, Four Way Reader, The New York Times, Free Inquiry, LIT, 7 Carmine, Cortland Review, 3rd bed, Gathering of the Tribes, Lyric Poetry Review, Upstairs at Duroc, Diner, and Heliotrope. Her prose has appeared in The New York Times and The New Virginia Review.

She is one of the editors of the poetry journal Barrow Street, and co-directed the Barrow Street Reading Series for eight years. She lives in New York City with her dog Jesse.