by Paul Hostovsky
They call it football because
you can only use your feet.
you can only use your feet.
Though sometimes you can also use
your head, your chest, your legs.
But you can’t use your hands.
And you can’t use your arms.
Those are the rules.
They call it a kiss on the mouth because
it’s a kiss on the mouth.
You can only kiss the mouth of someone
with whom you are intimate.
A lover. A spouse.
Sometimes also family.
Use your head.
That’s the rule.
In all countries and in all languages.
True, it is an unwritten rule,
but that’s no excuse for breaking it.
And now that you’ve broken it, Luis,
now that you’re flaunting it
and famously showing your contempt for it,
you can be sure the rule
will get written down after this.
And though you probably won’t end up
in jail, you just may end up
giving your name to this kind of unwanted kiss.
Even without your consent.
Because that’s the rule with eponyms.
Paul Hostovsky's poems have won a Pushcart Prize, two Best of the Net Awards, the FutureCycle Poetry Book Prize, and have been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, The Writer's Almanac, and the Best American Poetry blog.
