“A greeting that not only gives great pleasure but illuminates our lives—like a message in a bottle”—Robert McCrum, writer and editor

“Fourteen Poems about Kissing” is a title in the “Instead of a Card” series, based on the idea that sending a greeting card is a lovely gesture, and sending a booklet of poetry an even more meaningful one.

Most of us can remember our first kiss, whether it was glorious and transporting or merely awkward. Kissing, it transpires, can happen anywhere—on a train, in a city park or against a kitchen fridge.

The selected poems dramatize the fact that a kiss can make time stand still or send us into a dizzy spin:

“And the world all whirling
Round in joy
Like the dance of a dervish…”
—“Kisses in the Train” by D. H. Lawrence

The selection wouldn’t be complete without a sly antidote to all this romance, which is why we’ve included Mary Ruefle’s “Why I Am Not A Good Kisser” with its inventory of things not to do or think about when a kiss is in the offing.

Each pamphlet is gorgeous both inside and out, beautifully produced with a cardstock cover, Ex Libris bookplate, and a bookmark gift enclosure with space for an inscription to the recipient.

With a cover created by leading contemporary artists and poems hand-picked to speak to every kind of reader, each “Instead of a Card” title offers a richly rewarding reading journey. Produced using biodegradable and sustainable materials.

Poems by Kim Addonizio, Marjorie Allen Seiffert, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Burns, William Drummond of Hawthornden, Hattie Grünewald, D. H. Lawrence, Roddy Lumsden, David Mills, Shazea Quraishi, Mary Ruefle, Roberta Spear, Sara Teasdale, and Jean Toomer. Cover illustration by Sara Boccaccini Meadows.

Dimensions: 5.5” x 8.25”; 20 pages.