Tonight's Poet Corner: Kissing In The Candy Shop

Kissing In The Candy Shop

by Belinda Roddie

The rain has lessened somewhat, though

the cold is still lingering, handsome fingers

brushing against the denim of my jacket,

your fingers, painted, reaching for a plastic bag

so you can dump your fill of treats into

the price-managed reservoir.

We've brought coupons, minor attempts

to save on gummy bears and M&Ms,

peanut butter balls and jelly beans,

building blocks of sugar to stain our teeth

and please our tongues with.

You humor me, while I desperately try

to shove a quarter into a machine

so it can tell me if I am "mild"

or "spicy" in nature. I bite into a s'more

bar and caress your cheek with graham cracker

residue on my lips. To say you taste sweet

is both an exaggeration and a cliché. In

the candy shop, everything is saccharine

and sticky, and your kisses

are the comfortable kicks that offer me
sustenance compared to my artificial high.