Donal Mahoney- Three Poems

Charley on My Harley

The nightmare woke my father every night 

for years. He had no idea what it meant 

and so he wrote the story down and hoped 

some day he'd understand it.

He lost the note that night but 

found it decades later in a drawer 

next to the glass eye he popped out 

the stormy night that Mother left.

Mom came back to "make their marriage work"

after she'd been gone for 20 years

but Father told her they had been divorced 

for at least 10 years. Despite her tears,

Father told her, "Maude, after all this time,

let's agree that you were gone before you left 

so let me tell you all about the nightmare 

I've had every night since you rode off

with Charley on my Harley. I wrote the story down 

to tell the kids but they grew up and left 

before I had a chance to ask if they knew 

what the nightmare meant. 

Maybe you can help me understand it, Maude. 

The note says this: 'What purpose does a rabbit have 

other than as prey? What difference does 

a rainbow make in a rabbit’s day?'

Now you say you love me, Maude, 

but the kids are grown and gone 

so take my Harley and go find Charley.

It's time I put my eye back in."

A Walmart Way of Life

Opal the widow next door

shouts to Hilda over the fence

as they hang out their wash

on a sunny morning that

Walmart's having a big sale

on toilet paper and she's

stocked up now for the year

unless she gets diarrhea.

Then Hilda tells Opal she

would stock up on that too 

but her doctor has told her

she could live for many years

so she has to save in case 

she ever needs a cat scan. 

Opal says not to worry since

she will give Hilda the ad

the next time Walmart 

runs a sale on pet stuff.

A Matter of Business 

Every day at noon

when church bells peal

Rufus stops counting his money

gets up from his roll-top desk

lights a Cuban cigar

pours a glass of fine wine

and looks out his garret window

hoping to see Martha 

his neighbor dead in the snow

dropped by a heart attack 

or maybe black ice.

Either will do.

Too old to shovel the walk

she can’t afford to have it done.

Rufus never thought Martha

would live this long.

When she finally dies 

the property reverts to him

the result of a deal he cut

with her dead husband Mort

years ago when the couple 

needed his money and Rufus

figured they’d die in no time.

Mort was quick to cooperate

but Martha has been a turtle.

Twice now Rufus has lost

good buyers for the place 

rehabbers think is worth fixing.

Rufus doesn’t agree 

but he’ll sell the place in seconds

to anyone who offers the money.

For now, when church bells peal

Rufus lights a cigar, drinks wine,

looks out the window and thinks,

Hurry up Martha and die.

Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.