Marianne CombsCarol 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.
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.
