HOW LONG

I snapped shut my leather satchel
while you held your cup in both hands
a charming gesture really and I liked
the way you laughed at my silly jokes
about Caribou and the way
you tipped your chin up
and watched me with that cool
serene gaze that said
yes I wear an apron a bill cap
a name badge reading
April but I have
a woman's voice a pierced tongue and
a mind that sharp and dark will never
be opened by any mere boy

it’s time for your shift to start
the coffee urns are gleaming and ready
I take my scarf my long wool coat
stand in my wingtip florsheims a man
tumbling into middle age with
the dark pomaded hair of the rogue
flashing an onyx pinky ring
lugging a bag of lies
I'll come back I say
but have second thoughts as
I drive home to my wife with
the question really not how long
we can play these roles but who
is the more ridiculous

- Richard Donnelly

ALL THE BETTER

for Jack if you're married
and even if you
have a child or two
then all the better for Jack
all the better to love you

if you hate your home and hate
your job
then all the better for Jack
if your husband
stays late
works early drinks alone
all the better for Jack
If you worry over bills then Jack
will worry too
he has time enough to think it through
take his advice
turn off the light
and all the better for you

and
if you are tired and afraid
about Jess and Trent and the littlest
one
if Cub Foods is out of
the medium size
if you grow cold under your husband's
jaded eye
if you are sick in your heart
and life is a bad copy
of a dream you once had
remember
living is what you make of it
and all the better to forget

for if you do not
I must warn you: you will be alone
and one day
he is the one who does not come home
to a strange shabby house
in a strange shabby city
and if you're tired of waiting
and if your heart is breaking
it's all the better for Jack
all the better for Jack

- Richard Donnelly

DISCONNECT

I see the famous novelist has written another
lovely book and interviewed in her home
she demurs explains regales the reader
with the simplicity love and joy of her
ordinary day
wake late walk pets coffee
with her husband
shared duties giggles
midday naps
an hour’s work (maybe two with a shy
practiced smile oh precious guilty you)
and then an afternoon
in the garden with him amid silent
knowing glances
(do you never tire of each other)
and a single glass of Beaujolais
with mixing bowls and homemade pumpkin
squash soup and you setting plates at a simple
table before your husband’s shining eyes

I still see him with eyes like a rabbit
in your garden working the asparagus and this
morning a fire alarm launched my day
followed by an argument over who
will make the coffee
terminating with a mug
thrown against the wall
an angry thirty-five minute
drive to get the
five miles to my office
then the clang of phones
the growl of trucks
the shriek of Wendy as she burns herself
again on pre-packaged microwave stew and me
wanting a drink a smoke every five minutes
a shot of heroin if I could get it
with the ass of yet another customer waving
at me as she walks out the door saying
give it up old man you won’t get this now
or in any other life
it is over
and you will never be happy

- Richard Donnelly