Dreaming Big
  • Home
    • Staff
    • Members Only
  • Contact
  • Our Books
    • Non Fiction
    • Fiction
    • Poetry
    • Children's Books
    • Audio Books
  • Coming Soon
  • Blog
  • Opportunities
    • Call For Submissions
    • Submissions Guidelines
    • FAQ
  • Gifts and More

'Mostly Basie with a Little Bach' by Donal Mahoney

1/2/2017

0 Comments

 
​Mostly Basie with a Little Bach
 
Whenever I see a new woman, I know
I should look at her hair and her eyes and her smile 
before I decide if she's worth the small talk
and the dinner later
and whatever else she may require
before she becomes taffy,
pliant and smiling.
But that never works for me.
Whenever I see a new woman,
what matters to me is never
her hair or her eyes or her smile;
 
 
what matters to me is her saunter
as I stroll behind her.
If her moon comes over the mountain
and loops in languor, left to right,
and then loops back again,
primed for another revolution, then
I introduce myself immediately
no matter where we are,
in the stairwell or on the street
and that's when I see for the first time
her hair and her eyes and her smile 
but they are never a distraction since
I'm lost in the music of her saunter.
 
 
Years ago, tall and loping Carol Ann
took a train to Chicago,
found a job and then one summer day
walked ahead of me on Michigan Avenue
while I surveyed her universe amid
the cabs screeching, horns beeping,
a driver's middle finger rising.
Suddenly she turned and said hello
and we shook hands and I saw her smile
dart like a minnow and then disappear
as she frowned and asked  
why was I walking behind her.
 
 
I told her I was on my way to the noon Mass
at Holy Name Cathedral and she was welcome
to come along. The sermon wouldn't be much,
I said, but the coffee and bagels afterward
would be plentiful, enough to cover lunch.
And Jesus Christ Himself would be there.
She didn't believe me, not at all,
and she hasn't believed me since.
 
 
That was thirty years ago and now
her smile is still a minnow
darting here and there but now
it's more important than her saunter
which is still a symphony,
mostly Basie with a little Bach.
 
 
And I no longer traipse Michigan Avenue
as I did years ago looking for new moons
swirling in my universe. Instead,
I take my lunch in a little bag
on a long train from the suburbs
and I marvel at one fact:
It's been thirty years since I first heard
the music in her saunter
and Carol Ann and I are
still together, praise the Lord.
Who can believe it? Not I.
Carol Ann says she knew
the ending from the start.
Lord, Almighty. Fancy that.
 
 
Donal Mahoney
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Challenge Participant
    Parajunkee Design
    I review for BookLook Bloggers
    Professional Reader
    Book Reviewer Sign Up

    1888PressRelease
    YA Bound Book Tours

Services

Ask A Therapist
Blog
Our Books
Coming Soon

Company

About Us
Staff
​

Support

Contact
FAQ

Find and follow us on social media 
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.