Public Republic

Donal Mahoney

Photo: Lady-bug

My wife has a problem
with any poem
I give her to read
for a second opinion
especially when the poem
has no message
and my goal is
simply to hear
what I’m saying
and not care if
I understand it.

As I have told her before,
the meaning of any poem
for me lies
in the marriage
of cadence and sound,
little more.

The other night in bed
i gave her
another poem
to read
and afterward she said
it was no different
than the others.
She had hoped
I’d improve.

Reading it, she said,
was like looking through
a kaleidoscope
while listening to
a harpsichord.

What more can a man
looking for lines
ask for in a wife
than that?