"...to carry away memories brought for the forgetting
on one thousand one auspicious origami birds
whispering over chilled salmon, ripe fruit
suggesting the fertility of the afternoon."
from the poem, "One thousand one wedding cranes" 1998
Intimate Conversations
​
We talk about race, he and I
he trusts me, I trust him
it’s what makes us a coin flipped
he tall skinny, me short rounded
he traditional, me irregular
me schooled, he self educated
he black, me white
he christian, me something unnamed
he there, california
me here, mexico
I know him
he knows me
We talk about race, he and I
he works in the system, I no longer have jobs
he’s reminded he’s black everyday
I am favored simply by my whiteness
his anger boils, my voice silently listens
he sabotaged by them, me familiar with their treachery
he doesn’t trust them, I know them well
together we wail
We talk about race, he and I
his righteousness prickly hot
rejecting exclusion, deceit
he fights for the kids
defeats their forecasted failures
turns his back to fear
calls me to remember he’s building
a dream for all of them
I am certain of him, he gives me his secrets
together we try to dream
a new future
​
Sharon Mooney, “Intimate Conversations”, in Galway Review, a literary magazine, ed Máire Holmes, December 2020, NUI Galway Academic Press, Galway IR, https://thegalwayreview.com/2020/12/22/sharon-lopez-mooney-two-poems/