Midnight Anthem for a Chicago Alley
The lack of visitors is uterine
and that is why you porcupine
in this dark corner. Here
who can see the cobra
slither from your lips, spray
the phrases of your mind,
slip back to its moist nest.
Here, who can hear the jeer
of cheetah eyes. “Come,”
they cry, “pour on the light.
Your heart I’ll lacerate
with razor fright.”
Donal Mahoney
Liechtenstein Noticed
Take heed, Moscow.
Keep an eye on your sky
and while you are waiting,
give back Crimea and
pull out of the Ukraine.
Last night in Chicago
the Cubs beat the Cardinals
to move on in the playoffs.
Liechtenstein noticed.
It is sending its planes.
Donal Mahoney
Man at the Bus Stop on Halloween
The others, of course,
are more rabid than he
but less apt to show it.
Whenever he strikes,
he never romps off.
He stands with the wrist
that he's snatched
from the lady
tight in his teeth
as he waits with a smile
for the wagon.
He's one of the few
wrist-snatchers still
on the streets of Chicago,
and he makes his rounds
in old tennies.
His technique is simple:
He dives for the purse hand,
gives it a whack, and severs
the wrist without slobber,
then stands like a Vatican Guard
with the wrist in his teeth
until he is certain
he has no pursuers.
At night in his dreams he sees
the women whose wrists
he has held in his teeth.
They stand at the bus stop
like Statues of Liberty,
shrieking and waving
their stumps like flares.
He prays their screams
will bring to a frieze
the patrol cars glowing
in the middle of the street.
Donal Mahoney
Character Flaw
Millie wants Willie to make up,
go back to the way they were,
be lovey-dovey, hunky-dory.
Willie wishes he could
but that’s not the way he is.
He has a character flaw,
permanent as a birthmark
his mother told him
when he was only six.
Some folks can forgive
and then forget but that’s
not you Willie, she said.
When he heard about
the crucifixions in Syria,
he said that's genocide,
plain and simple.
Willie’s can't forget
a wrong, big or small.
It’s hard to forgive, he says,
never mind forget ISIS.
You’re not ISIS, Willie,
his Millie reassures him.
You just have a conscience.
No nails, no hammer.
Donal Mahoney
Pants on Fire
Rhoda, I can’t say why Amanda
was picked and not Tiffany
for anchor of our Nightly News.
I interviewed both
because Mr. Smith wanted
a woman’s opinion.
I honestly don’t know.
I made a recommendation
and sent it to Mr. Jones
who sent it to Mr. Smith
who made the final decision.
I found little difference
between the two.
A day later Mr. Smith sent Mr. Jones
a formal email with a copy to me
saying Amanda would be the anchor
and Tiffany would return
to morning news.
I’m glad it was not my decision.
I could have picked either.
Earlier in our careers, Rhoda,
you and I both did on-air TV and radio.
Now you write a media column
and I direct this program.
As women, we know
the demands of television
differ from those
of radio and print.
But I can assure you,
one woman to another,
despite what readers and viewers
may think, Amanda’s cup size
was never a factor.
Mr. Smith says if you put that
in your column, you better
believe we’ll sue.
Donal Mahoney
