In Chesterfield and Spats

The father of the girl

I stare at now,

as we wait for our morning bus,

stands across the street,

tall and proper in his 

chesterfield and spats.

He is waiting for a bus

that goes in the opposite direction.

He wears a derby,

swings a silver cane,

smokes a green panatela.

Suddenly he pirouettes

and smiles at my daughter.

She takes the same bus

to school every morning.

That night at supper,

I ask her about him.

"Dad, he's super!"

At 12, she knows.

"Dad, he rides the same bus

as me every morning.

He checks my homework

and I ask him questions.

Dad, he knows all the answers."

My Therapist’s a Lady

 

It’s all so simple now,

yet it took 30 years

to begin to understand.

It’s as though someone

stole the primer I had

and gave me another

in my own language.

It’s because you are

who you are

that I’ve begun

to become who I am.

That sounds too dramatic.

All you did, really, was scream

when you opened the bathroom door,

saw me wrapped in a towel,

standing at attention on a mat,

waiting in my thirtieth  year

for the steam to clear

from the cabinet mirror,

waiting for someone

to shout, “At ease.”

 

Donal Mahoney

SCION OF STOCKHOLM... 1913-2015

T. Transtromer     [Stefanie Bennett]

 

 

 

He said, clinging to life,

“It is hard

To believe in

A bland phenomenon

When you’re the known

 

Optical source

Of the baker’s dozen,

 

The Magi who chants

A fond lullaby,

 

And an airtight

Chapter of doom...”

 

With that, the room

Spun its

Meteor shower.

Its welcoming mat.

Its Divine Comedy.

 

 

 

GONE       [Stefanie Bennett]

 

 

Seeing as how no-one’s

Tied to any

Shore anymore –,

And we’re

- Most of us,

Kicking

Over the traces...

 

Why then is it

Grandpa’s

Got

Double-braces

On!

A Singular Repast

We are to each other now

many decades later

what we were the day 

we got married, a couple 

at the kitchen table on 

a summer night—she  

a slice of watermelon, 

corners touching the ceiling,

covering my face in juice 

and I the corn she butters 

before she devours it. 

We eat as fast as we can.

Donal Mahoney

Makes Forever Shorter

When a bullet goes in

and doesn’t come out

you read about it 

in the paper, hear 

about it on TV.

A person takes a bullet

near the heart and learns 

a surgeon can't remove it. 

It's part of him forever. 

Happens like a drive-by

shooting when a loved one 

makes a comment no

apology can remove.

The loved one doesn't

know there’s a problem, 

doesn’t realize lightning

through the cerebellum  

is by far a better option. 

Doesn't let the victim linger. 

Makes forever shorter.

Donal Mahoney

The Canyon Dwellers

There’s this canyon 

between two cliffs

and Tim Boyd has a foot

planted on each cliff.

He’s spread-eagled 

but very steady.

He's been stretched

over the canyon since 

he got back from Iraq.

After he took his position,

he thought someone 

would eventually look up.

There are others

spread over the canyon

in front of Tim. 

They’ve been there

since Viet Nam and

getting a bit wobbly.

In back of Tim

are the new arrivals

spread-eagled as well.

They’re fresh from

Afghanistan and they're

getting their feet set. 

The rest of us below

have jobs and are busy

with families and lives. 

When a canyon dweller falls 

and makes a terrible mess, 

we find the time to look up.

Donal Mahoney

MAP AND KEY OF EXTINCTION

Map and key of extinction

Generates a Planet Space-Scape

For Human and Species.

What do you see? Tragedy

What? Hope

And?

Everywhere we are flawed and horrible:

There are those who dress, refine

And defend horrors

We near greatest tragedy:

Extinction.

No¡

Extinction shows to us

The ancient living Planet

Underneath is revealed

Deeping continuity among species

And a necessary identity

With processes of the Earth itself.

Anything you please.

-Daniel de Cullá

THE BABEL TOWER

Listen:
Drag branches comeback
Across the forest floor:
Knowledge of the rough¡

At water’s edge
I gather some things up:
Memory of nothing.

We’ve the time to give the Babel Tower
A close reading Awful good, Thou
As Roy A. Rappaport’s
Ritual... as Communication and as State.
Our preferences might be
Toward more emphasis
On species places:
Smooth textures of dead wood
Knowledge of our hands on arms
The body-art of bullshit
Drinking cocoa
And tend to the faith
With a Vampire’s short stick
That smells of infinite urine. 

-Daniel de Cullá

 CONSTITUTIONAL CAKE
     What's in a name? Religious Freedom and Restoration Act...
...Just about says it all...No, NO!
     You can't judge a book by its cover,
A cake is less frosting and decoration and more what's below.

     A mix of pleading and proof mechanisms,
Court procedure, if and when a prospective case should arise,
     No guarantee of a positive outcome for the pious, for the most part a flop, yet...
...During Holy Week preemptively pounded on as antigay in disguise.

     Publicly punished, the Holy Weak forced to do penance,
Threatened to be burned to a crisp, Memories Pizza "encouraged" to close,
     Just for saying unable to cater a same sex wedding if ever asked to,
Tomato pie at a reception? Speculative future situation causing the Mom and Pop current cash woes.

     Loud in condemnation, large, multinational corporations,
And sports - big business by another name,
     Harridan hyper hypocrites baking dough in countries where homosexuals are routinely battered and sliced,
Layered liberals, cafeteria pro choice, no shame - and no blame.

     To listen to this debate, you'd think...
...The only ingredients in the Bill of Rights were equal protection and religion,
     Twenty-five other Amendments and the whole Constitution to stir in the bowl,
First come, first serve? For what follows, the "First Freedom" tier is often considered the linchpin.

     Which brings US to the baker...the florist...the photographer,
Plain vanilla people who find participation in a rainbow ceremony too hard to swallow,
     Custom, not ready-made, personal services...Coerced into a contract without their valid consent...Specific performance compelled,
Just choose another! Will civil law enforce THIS? Really, how satisfactory do you think the job is going to go?

     Lost on governors and mayors who rushed to ban government travel to Indiana, the Commerce Clause,
Interstate interference surrounding intrastate marriage, restraint of trade trying to pressure Mike Pence to bend to their will,
     Grand public gesture to the 2% to poach economic eclairs, giving expanded meaning to "states rights,"
150 years after Lincoln's death, the country stuffing its face with second helpings that will only make it ill.

     Discriminating, not discrimination; it's a distinction with a difference,
The Constitution's to be shared - table manners! -  no need to bite off more than you can chew,
     Emotional eating is "out," Enough! Flavors already fighting...we're at a tipping point...
...The cake could fall, and we'd have to start from scratch and bake one anew.

 

 

Karen Ann DeLuca

Two Appliqués

If the greatest of these

is charity

then tell me again

why it’s gauche

if this young man

in a booth at a bar

dives under the skirt

of the farmer’s widow

smiling across from him.

 

There he will find

what he’s after

and get that big kiss

before driving her home

through jackhammer rain

and flying with her

through the windshield

making a turn.

 

Now they're a legend,

the talk of the town,

emblazoned forever

for pickups to see

as two appliqués

on a viaduct wall,

their Rorschachs

bright red,

whatever their ages.

 

 

Donal Mahoney