Mona Lisa Saloy.
“Daddy’s Philosophy: II.”
Daddy loves coffee with chicory
in his cream and sugar
every morning just after 5:30.
Says he eats to keep from
getting hungry.
At 86, he forgets
when and what he eats
especially Hagendaz on a stick,
can inhale one after another with
a smile like sunshine
while peeling away
the plastic wrap.
He sees me watching,
says that’s what it means.
What? I ask.
La joi de vivre, he says.
The joy of life? I ask.
Sure, the New Orleans motto, he says,
the reasons for heavenly hips,
drumstick thighs, and
hug-able bellies.
Yeah, ya right,
even the French say that Daddy.
No girl, not like we do.
“We work like we don’t need the money.
We love like we never been hurt.
We dance like nobody’s watching.
We eat like there’s no tomorrow.”
Works
Saloy, Mona Lisa. Red Beans and Ricely Yours: Poems. New Odyssey Series. Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Pr., 2005.
Saloy, Mona Lisa. Second Line Home: New Orleans Poems. New Odyssey Series. Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Pr., 2014.
Page prepared by:
- Bruce R. Magee