Sunday, June 1, 2014

Donal Mahoney- Three Poems

Little Cartons, Little Sacks
 
The mug of tea
I drank at dawn,
the tea that drove
 
me to the train
needs a refill.
At my desk,
 
I don’t do much
but wait for lunch
when every day
 
I eat so much
the waitress gawks.
She doesn’t
 
realize the years
till supper
when I’ll dine
 
alone again,
bolt everything
that I bring home
 
in little cartons,
little sacks.
She’s not there
 
when the couch
becomes my slab 
till ten  

when bed
becomes
my mausoleum.



Love Is Another Thing
 
Sitting at the table
spinning the creamer
running her fingers through sugar
the kids spilled at supper, Sue
 
suddenly says, “Don,
love is another thing.”
Since love is another thing
I have to go rent a room,
 
leave behind eight years,
five kids, the echoes of me
raging at noon on the phone,
raging at night, the mist
 
of whose fallout ate her skin,
ate her bones, left her a kitten
crying high in an oak
let me free, let me free

 

Joint Custody
 
You were gone 
when I got home
at midnight
from a double shift.
Now you’re back, 
two years later.
I had no idea 
where you went  
so I packed up
and got a room.
Long ago, 
I begged you
not to leave 
but that was then.
You can keep
the house, the car. 
I'll come by
some starry night
when the moon is bright
and you're asleep.
I promise not to 
wake the dogs.
When you get up
you'll find 
I used my key
to take the kids. 

 

Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

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