In 1997, sex therapist and marriage counselor Wendy Maltz, author of the Sexual Healing Journey and coauthor of Private Thoughts, compiled Passionate Hearts, an anthology of "poems that inspire and celebrate healthy sexual intimacy; poems in which heart connection was at the core of the sexual experience." In Intimate Kisses, Maltz follows on the success of Passionate Hearts with a new anthology of poetry that continues her celebration of healthy sexuality and, in the process, turns up the heat.
Intimate Kisses revels in what may be life’s greatest mystery, through some of richest, most celebrated poetry ever written. Included in this anthology are 121 poems by such poets as Marge Piercy, Emily Dickenson, Jelaluddin Rumi, Nikki Giovanni, Anne Sexton, Sharon Olds, Octavio Paz, Molly Peacock, Dorianne Laux, Jane Hirshfield, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Galway Kinnell, and W.S. Merwin, as well as dozens of lesser-known and unpublished poets.