Donal Mahoney- Three Poems

 

So Many Hummingbirds

This August evening

so many hummingbirds

helicopters of the garden

hover and dart

iridescent in the dusk 

flower to flower

sipping perhaps

a last supper 

then flying South

before the leaves  

before the snow 

us at the window

praying they'll stay

knowing they can't

praying for spring

This Dark Morning

If I were a possum

with a tail that long

I too would hang

from a tree limb 

this dark morning

and hiss to frighten

the cats off the deck

away from the food 

and water, and then 

I'd drop from the limb  

and eat as soon as 

that fat raccoon 

climbing the steps

with the lurching sway

of a hungry Grizzly 

washes his food

gobbles his fill

and rumbles away.

Seamus and the Rest of Us

After Reading 'Blackberry-Picking' Again

For many years 

Seamus Heaney wrote 

while the rest of us typed

none of us striking

keys as grand as those 

in "Blackberry-Picking."

Not a sour syllable

nor bruised word 

in any verse.

"Blackberry-Picking" tells 

the rest of us to keep typing.  

Excellence never dies

although it may not be ours. 

We will hear poems

Seamus is writing now

when we sneak into heaven

and Seamus gives them to 

the Seraphim to sing. 

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181384?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+PoetryFoundation/PoemOfTheDayText+(Poem+of+the+Day)

--------------------------------------------------

Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.