Donal Mahoney- A Poem

Whinny and Spit

When a man’s young,

this work is hard

but it pays well

and he can feed

the wife and kids.

In the morning

he throws crates off trucks,

and after lunch

throws crates again

till five or six o’clock.

But as he grows older,

and some say

ready to retire,

he has to stop

in the late afternoon,

mount his throne of skids,

let his legs drip over the side,

toss his head, inhale,

whinny and spit.

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Donal Mahoney's father came to America from Ireland just before the Great Depression. A legal immigrant, he had jobs like the one described in the poem. That is why, many decades later, it is difficult for Mahoney to worry about whether an immigrant is legal or not when he sees one working his buttocks off in the noonday sun.