Let Her Bloom by Donal Mahoney

The first time a man meets her,

his lids flicker,

an appropriate reaction.

*

The first time a woman meets her,

her eyes pop out and coil on her forehead,

another appropriate reaction.

*

Who can blame either?

Today, who buys the canard

about the true, the good, the beautiful

*

in theory or in a woman?

Let them watch her as I did.

Let them frisk her for flaws

*

that will allow them to live

as they are, as they were,

as I was when I met her.

*

Till then, let her bloom

with my children

while I wonder, I try.

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Donal Mahoney has had poems published in a variety of print and online publications, including The Wisconsin Review, The Kansas Quarterly, The South Carolina Review, The Beloit Poetry Journal,Commonweal, Public Republic (Bulgaria), Revival (Ireland), The Istanbul Literary Review (Turkey) and A Golden Place. A native of Chicago, he lives now in St. Louis, Missouri, where he discovered, much to his doctor’s distress, biscuits and gravy.

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Editor’s Note: Please remember to pray for Bennett.