Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Donal Mahoney- Three Poems

If We Ever Break Up

Thunder and lightning at first,
as I understand it, 
and then the moon will split

in half and disappear
and the stars will go dark
and the sun will come up

and explode in the sky,
another Hiroshima
Hurricanes and tornadoes 

will savage the land.
Sickles and scythes  
will harvest the people,

throw some in the air
shouting Alleluia, 
toss others aside 

shrieking and cursing.
Silence will boom
as the credits roll.

Bugs Bunny, the sage, 
will have the last word:
"That's all, folks!"
 


Unrequited Love

On their 50th anniversary
Sammy gave Dolly a necklace  
and told his darling wife that
if they lived long enough 
one of them would wake  
to find the other one had died.
"That's life," said Sammy.

And so it came to pass 
Dolly rose one day
and found old Sammy 
on the bathroom floor, 
face blue, body cold,
arms outstretched, 
an old man crucified.

This wasn't the first time
in 50 years Sammy had 
ruined Dolly's day but now
free of fear, Dolly spoke: 
"I never thought you'd die.
I'll have your ashes in an urn 
and under dirt by end of day."
 


A Touch of Alzheimer's

Wherever I go,
there I am
but if I'm not there

my wife is,
her eyes smiling.
It's been that way

for fifty years.
Not much more 
to say except

whenever I go 
some place
and discover

she's not there, 
then I'm not 
there either

even though
neighbors tell her
they saw me there

so I ask them what's
the difference between
flotsam and jetsam.

They have no answer. 
Why in their world 
worry about me.


Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri. 

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