Saturday, July 5, 2014

Donal Mahoney- Three Poems

 
Dancing on the Fourth of July

All that hair 
trapped in a braid  
silver to the waist
Opal this morning
nude in the mirror
brings the braid up
between her breasts
and around her neck,
a python of her creation

that she promised Elmer
she would cut off
for a pixie hairdo
like Audrey Hepburn 
if he would take her
on the Fourth of July   
to the Senior Dance,
something Wilbur
would always do 

if she wore high heels
and that red dress
and those black 
nylons he found
with the seams
like the ones she wore 
the day he came home
all crew cut and cowlicks 
from Korea.


Home Invasion Encore

This time Wilma 
is ready for the bastards 
jimmying her front door,
coming back for more.
The first time she was asleep,
the bedroom light on,
the Bible open at her side
to John, Chapter 6,
"Do this in remembrance of me."
Tonight, however, 
Wilma's lying on the couch
with the lights out,
the rosary in one hand,
her late husband's pistol
cocked in the other.
Jack taught her how to use it
when she was a bride
and tonight she will pray
for the men now 
coming through the door
and then she will use it 
in remembrance of Jack
and call the police.
With all the commotion,
she'll probably miss Mass
but it's a weekday, 
no sin involved.



The Constant Dinosaur

Some day soon 
Wall Street giants
will walk on their hands

never sit or sleep. 
They will eat 
with their feet

as nostrils drip
and neckties droop.
With toilets extinct

they will launch 
missiles that blot out
the sun and moon

while in the dark
the constant dinosaur 
of greed will roam

the avenue and eat 
the little people  
one chomp at a time.


Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

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