Donal Mahoney- Three Poems

Annual Physical

You go to the doctor

at 21, no problems.

Maybe a flu shot.

That’s it.

You go to him

at 40, and you 

need a pill or two

and he says 

watch your weight.

You go to him

at 60, and you’re 

now a fixer-upper.

You need more pills,

he says, and 

watch your weight.

You go to him

at 70, and he finds

plumbing problems

and asks questions

to verify that all

your lights are on. 

Doesn’t mention

your weight.

You go to him

at 80, and he says

you’re doing well,

all things considered,

but it wouldn’t hurt 

to put your affairs

in order.

You tell him  

you can’t remember

any affairs but he 

can ask your wife.

She’s still raising hell 

about someone 

named Mildred,

if that was her name.

New York to Chicago: An Email Alert

By email I ask her

what color panty

what color bra

Red, she replies

Silk. Lace.

Saks.

Stockings

or panty hose?

Stockings, she says.

Very high.

Seams.

Flats or heels?

Stilettos

in my suitcase,

she says. 

Small shop

off Broadway.

Take a cab

from the airport,

I tell her.

I'll pay

if the pilot

won't land in 

our yard.

So You Come Back Tomorrow, Hear?

The next morning the lady says 

take me out for breakfast

someplace I have never been

someplace I will never see again 

unless you come back 

and take me there again

an empty diner where the grill man 

gives us sausage, bacon, eggs, 

pours more coffee in our mugs.

That's the place I want to go forever.

So you come back tomorrow, hear?

and take me there again.

 

Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.