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Column 516

The Kiss

Intro by Ted Kooser
02.08.2015

Kurt Brown was a tal­ent­ed poet who died in 2013, and his posthu­mous select­ed and new poems opens with this touch­ing late poem to his wife, Laure-Anne.

The Kiss

That kiss I failed to give you.
How can you forgive me?
The kiss I would have spent on you is still
There, within me. It will probably die there.
But it will be the last of me to die.

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Disclaimer

We do not accept unsolicited submissions

We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright © 2014 by the Estate of Kurt Brown, “The Kiss,” from I’ve Come This Far to Say Hello: Poems Selected and New by Kurt Brown (Tiger Bark Press, 2014). Poem reprinted by permission of The Estate of Kurt Brown and Tiger Bark Press. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.