MN poetry: Carol Connolly’s “A Gentleman’s Invitation”

Carol Connolly was born, raised and educated in the Irish Catholic section of Saint Paul, Minnesota. She began writing poetry at the age of forty. She is Saint Paul's first Poet Laureate, a lifetime mayoral appointment.

A Gentleman's Invitation

Meet me at six o'clock

at the New French Cafe.

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We will share,

says he,

a cup of consomme.

Handsome is he

and debonair.

His smile is as wide

as the English Channel.

But a hungry woman

searching for substance

could

drown

in a cup of consomme

at six o'clock

at the New French Cafe.

- "A Gentleman's Invitation" by Carol Connolly, as it appears in her collection "All This and More," published by Nodin Press. Reprinted here with permission from the publisher.