Radio Flyer
When you were a boy in 1948
living on a block of bungalows
in Chicago right after WWII
you had a red wagon
you pulled behind your mother
going to the grocery store.
Rationing of food was over.
Beef was back and butter too,
no more margarine you had to add
yellow to. Now you had big bags
of groceries to pull all the way home
in your red wagon with your mother
in a house dress swinging her purse
and smiling behind you.
You were the man of the house
on hot summer days and your
red wagon was the family car
because although your father
had a car, an old Plymouth,
he took it to work every day
and didn’t get home until
late at night because of
the splendor of overtime.
The only caveat was
your red wagon had to have
Radio Flyer painted on the side
or the other boys would say
you didn’t have a real wagon.
The war was over but they said
your family couldn’t afford one.
Same thing when you got
your first two-wheel bike.
If it wasn’t a Schwinn, they said
your family couldn’t afford one.
Donal Mahoney
It’s midnight in New York
and in this tall building
Herb and Molly are
in bed making love.
Molly is a virgin
and it hurts.
Olga’s upstairs
in bed with cancer
terminal and it hurts.
Melvin’s downstairs
in bed snoring.
Nothing hurts because
he doesn’t know yet
he has multiple sclerosis.
In the hallway a thief
goes floor to floor
trying door knobs
hoping one will open.
All the doors are locked,
chained and bolted.
Everyone is safe.
No one can get in.
Donal Mahoney
A Sisyphus Moment
There’s a force that makes
a boulder hard to push up a hill.
And there’s always a boulder
and always a hill when it comes to
helping the poor find something
to eat, somewhere to live, a job
they can go to every day.
Sometimes the boulder slips
and rolls back downhill
and Sisyphus jumps aside.
Accidents happen.
But sometimes the one
who owns that hill says no
and blows his trumpet and gives
the boulder a mighty shove
and Sisyphus gets run over.
Then the poor must wait
a century longer
for another Sisyphus
to volunteer and get
behind the boulder.
No wonder the poor
are getting together
and grumbling louder.
They know Sisyphus isn't
the answer to the problem.
They must push the boulder.
Donal Mahoney
Not as Bad as Nagasaki
Old Yoshiko in Tokyo can’t sleep
because her husband snores
so she sits in her kimono
and eats a few rice cakes
with a few sips of saké.
She thinks about the past
and then calls her daughter
in Chicago to remind her
that Truman’s bomb killed
almost all of her family.
Come home right away,
her mother tells her
as soon as you complete
your degree in chemistry.
Earthquakes and tsunamis
aren't as bad as Nagasaki.
Donal Mahoney
Priest and Prostitute
The old priest who won’t retire
despite his bishop’s hints
rides his bike around the parish
every day for exercise.
He waves and smiles at everyone
and they wave back.
But now he’ll be in bed
at least three weeks because
he flew over the handlebars
and broke several ribs,
his elbow and his nose.
Everyone in the parish now is
praying for the priest except
the prostitute who sees him
riding his bike and waving
when she gets home from work.
She saw the ambulance take
the priest away and stopped
that night at the candy store and
sent him a box of fudge.
A nice old priest, she thought.
She doesn’t have time to pray.
Donal Mahoney
