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.