Motley Mumbling

Both funny and serious in an ironically oxymoronic way, Motley Mumbling: Romance Poetry and Prose offers a diverse collection of poetry and prose from Thomas J. Hally that seeks to challenge you to look at the world in a new way.

This compilation, intended for lovers, expresses itself in four languages: English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Although its pages contain some erotic passion, it focuses primarily on the romance in the essence of the languages themselves—most notably in the three Romance languages featured in the collection, which take their own center stage.

Intelligently written with beautifully picturesque metaphors, surprisingly direct and exact analogies, and other twists of the pen, the poetry and short stories included here reveal author Thomas Hally’s desire to share beauty, love, adventure, anger, justice, and a sense of universal belonging that flourishes in Motley Mumbling.

“The reader is in for a treat with this eclectic collection, for it contains something for everyone. The beauty of this book is in the various forms of literature covering various aspects of life, spoken in different voices, and presented in different languages. The challenge facing the reader is to reconcile Motley’s various pieces to the same individual; this is not a simple task, and nor is Hally, and inherently nor are we, but we celebrate our shared humanity when such reconciliation occurs.”


—Mark van Vuuren, BA (hons), BCom, MCom; poet,

Johannesburg, South Africa