Snake Charmer
After 50 years Wilma
at her class reunion thinks
Waldo’s changed with age
that he’s nice now, not
the snake she wed
right after high school
and quietly divorced.
Both are widowed now
and Wilma looks lovely.
Tonight she has Waldo
swaying to the rhythm
of her voice but Wilma
needs to know a cobra
coiled in its basket can
wait to nip its charmer.
Her Trip Back There
You were gone
before you left.
Now you’re happy
you're back home.
I can hear
you singing
in the shower
but I know now
you’re still there.
Make yourself
a cup of coffee.
The kids are still
at school.
They'll be happy
you've come back.
I'll be dozing
in my chair.
We know now
despite your smile
I'm no longer here.
Big Walleye for Emma
Never a man to dawdle
Gramps got around,
he reminded his Emma,
until gout told his foot
to marry his ottoman.
So he paid for a cab
to visit Doc Morton,
a man he hated to see,
then stayed off his foot
for another two weeks.
Neighbors came over
and Sally next door
brought a big apple pie
and a case of the flu.
Gramps sampled both.
In a matter of days
he developed pneumonia,
went to the hospital,
faded away after
telling his widow-to-be
no reason at all to worry.
He just had a bit of the flu.
Come summer, he’d catch
a mess of big walleye
only his Emma could fry.
Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
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