Friday, June 26, 2015

Old People

These are old people
retired and driving slowly
from small apartments
in economy cars 
getting out on canes 
and walkers with
hearing aids you can see
attired in the best 
Goodwill has to offer
arriving between 1 and 3 
weekday afternoons
at Mid-America Buffet
eating their fill for $5.00 off
piling their plates with
chicken, meat loaf
salads galore, veggies
from childhood
green beans, carrots 
eaten in a rush as kids
listening to Fibber McGee
and Molly on the radio
eaten slowly now 
by folks who make it
on crackers and snacks
and one meal a day
this one for $5.00 off
at Mid-America Buffet.


Donal Mahoney 


Show or Tell

Some poets show.
Others tell.
Poets who show

use metaphor, simile,
rhythm and stories
to paint a picture

readers can see
then decide for themselves. 
Poets who tell 

are linear folk who
mean well but yell
so readers won’t miss

the cure for society’s problems.
Their straight lines are neon 
so readers won’t have to think


Donal Mahoney


Oddfellow

Homer’s never owned a gun,
thinks they should be banned
along with bombs and missiles.

Doesn’t need them in the river
that flows between his mind
and his emotions

where every now and then
he pushes someone in 
for some untoward remark.

He points to the sky first,
says that’s where heaven is
and gives a push

and waits to hear the scream
and then the splash.
His notebook says

some folks float away,
are never found, flotsam
among the jetsam.

Others he dives in to save
so he can push them in again
to save another day.


Donal Mahoney

Helpless I do not know if good intentions prevail among the elected, among the appointed, leaving me apprehensive that the fate ...