Monday, December 7, 2015

Holiday Party in San Bernardino

14 dead.
21 wounded.
Holiday party in San Bernardino.

Syed Farook and his wife 
in black tactical gear spray
75 bullets all over the hall.

Our president wants to know more.
He wants the FBI to tell him
the couple's motive.

Perhaps this explains why 
the Trumpeter Swan enjoys
20-point lead in the polls.


Donal Mahoney


Diplomatic Intrigue

We send diplomats
to talk with diplomats
of other nations
and hope a deal
is struck to bring
peace and justice
to all involved and

we’re stymied when
diplomats come back 
and bury us beneath
balderdash and buncombe.
It’s time we face the facts.
It’s time to send 
the exorcists instead.


Donal Mahoney


Just for a Day

If you want to know
what it’s like to have nothing
just for a day

head for Skid Row.
Trade your suit and 20 bucks
for the attire of a resident

standing against a wall.
Buy a tin cup and yellow pencils
and go to Union Station in time

for the evening rush hour
when suburbanites with jobs
on Michigan Avenue go home

for dinner and a little HBO.
Flop down near the entrance 
in your tatters with pencils and cup.

Wear Charles Bronson sunglasses
and hold high a sign that says,
“Will Work for Food.”

Count the briefcases that sail by 
and see how many pencils you sell,
how many people even look at you 

before the gendarmes arrive
and poke you with a baton
then walk you away.

Donal Mahoney

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