a secret kissing – Liam Burke

the sun stretches within kissing
distance and i, the moon, lean
to sniff her solar scent –
sunshine and cedar –

after trysts we emerge
   gather the mess of earth – wring out
rags wet with soot and insects
hang to dry on clotheslines over canyons

i kiss soil off sore palms
bask in her backlight in every window
         every kitchen
rejoice in those soft peaks
where astral lovers hang in the sky
almost touching               almost

ah but how short our time
       ah but how sweet each night

Liam Burke (he/him/himbo) lives in Ottawa, Canada, on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe land. He is most recently the co-author of ‘machine dreams’ with natalie hanna (Collusion, 2021) and ‘Orbital Cultivation’ with Manahil Bandukwala (Collusion, 2021). His work has most recently appeared in Olney Magazine, Roi Fainéant, INKSOUNDS, the Daily Drunk and Savant-Garde, and is forthcoming in Sledgehammer Lit and Rejection Letters.