Contributor: Donal Mahoney

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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 lives in St. Louis, Missouri.