READING THE POEM MY COUSIN WROTE THAT I HADN’T

by Lyn Lifshin

I didn’t know she
watched men watch
me walking, thought
I was beautiful

When we kiss she
wrote we come close
but we kiss air.
I haven’t seen her

for seven years. I
never read the poem
about sleeping together
in the lake house

before my wedding,
never heard her say
“I want to put my
arms around my

cousin and kiss the
skin from her”


*Lyn's website:
http://www.lynlifshin.com/books.htm