Donal Mahoney- Three Poems

Hot Spots in the City

I turn on the news to see 

who won the game last night

but first the scores from 

hot spots in the city.

Two people are killed 

and a house is set on fire. 

An infant burns to death.

Two men hijack a car 

and a mother is killed. 

Her baby is tossed 

from the car and

found a block away 

alive in a car seat.

The mayor says 

we need more cops.

Money’s the problem.

The police chief says  

he’s sending more cops 

to hot spots in the city.

The anchor says at noon 

a demonstration at City Hall 

for Black Lives Matter.

He doesn’t mention 

any demonstrations at 

hot spots in the city.

Bill of Indictment

According to reports

certain White House interns

past, present and future

are asking Americans

not to vote for Hillary 

because that would put Bill

back to the White House.

He has a feel for the economy, 

the interns say, and other things.

An Epidemic, They Say

Where I live the press says 

teen use of heroin is epidemic. 

I thought an epidemic

was a widespread disease

afflicting thousands caught in 

the wrong place at the right time

as might happen when mosquitoes 

bring in the zika virus and inject 

as many people as they can. 

There’s a difference in the two.

Unlike victims of the zika virus, 

teens inject heroin themselves.

Donal Mahoney

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Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri,

not far from Ferguson, Missouri, once the 

home of Michael Brown.