Friday Love Poem: Daniel McGinn!

Daniel, fourth from left with his deardear wife Lori, back when I lived blessedly near them.

This week's poet is a favorite influence, a wonderful friend, and one of the best all around humans there is. He and Lori just celebrated their 39th anniversary, so it seems a little odd to mark the occasion with a poem about me--but who could resist?

Explaining Jane

“Jane Cassady has been informed that you cannot be a post-modernist and call
yourself a post-modernist at the same time, so she now refers to herself
as post- structuralist.”

-Ben Trig, Poetry Host

1.

Open to her eyes peering out the mail slot—

the sound of one pink polished nail

tap tap tapping in the brass lip.

Let us assume she is on her knees,

Holy Mother of God, she wonders aloud

When will the postman arrive?

Jane knows what she means to say

but today

she is closed like a door

with a mouthful of letters.

2.

What shall I say?

My lips are just meat.

My heart but a subject

open for interpretation.

The state of my soul?

This is California, you say

but it is never the same to you.

We communicate alone, don’t we?

One does not even understand odd.

Knowing people is a matter of time

and space. Consider space.

Who among us is able to do the math?

3.

Lesson One, says the teacher,

is that there is no Lesson One.

Maybe it’s raining out.

Maybe the teacher is crying.

But hey, who are we to judge the teacher?

Jane raises her hand,

waving it like a flag on a minivan,

a silent hand but important,

like a white flag

snapping smartly over a massacre.

Jane says to the teacher,

What about the post??

The teacher sees lumber

And tries to build his argument.

No, Jane says,

it’s not about the male men anymore,

it’s about the postal persons.

The teacher sees machine guns.

Jane sees love letters.

Daniel McGinn's work has appeared numerous anthologies and publications. His full length collection of poems, 1000 Black Umbrellas was released by Write Bloody Press. He had five chapbooks published as part of the Laguna Poets chapbook series. Daniel has an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He and his wife, poet Lori McGinn, are natives of Southern California. They have 3 children, 6 grandchildren and a very good dog.