Plagiarism
I'd never steal a poem
or any of its shining facets
but I'd take the mood
a poem is born in
if the poem is smiling.
A lot of poems smile
but lately mine
can only scowl.
So when I read
a poem written
in the daylight by
a soul who's
painting clouds
against a brilliant sky
as if the clouds
were butterflies
too lovely to let go
and fly away,
that's the mood
I want with me
every midnight
in the basement
when I feed the ghosts
I can't allow upstairs.
When Men Had to Marry
In 1956 April told Henry
her mother had told her
there's a time and a place
for that and the time
for that was certainly
not now but soon
after the ceremony
after the reception
on their honeymoon
at Niagara Falls.
April hoped Henry
would like it for she
would be his as long
as his freckles
danced the cha-cha
all over his nose.
After Listening to World News Tonight
When the next emperor dies
and arrives in Hades
there will be great applause
from the other emperors who
arrived there before him.
They will drop pitchforks,
kneel in bonfire and bow
to their newest colleague,
the one for whom Satan
now rises and offers
his throne so the new man
can reign in glory as
Emperor of Hades until
someone more evil arrives,
someone whose glee for war
harmed even more people,
people with little to lose
except for their lives.
Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
No comments:
Post a Comment