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.
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