DONAL MAHONEY - POEMS

Donal Mahoney, a native of Chicago, lives in St. Louis, Missouri. He has worked as an editor for The Chicago Sun-Times, Loyola University Press and Washington University in St. Louis. His fiction and poetry have appeared in various publications, including The Wisconsin Review, The Kansas Quarterly, The South Carolina Review, The Christian Science Monitor, Commonweal, Guwahatian Magazine (India), The Galway Review (Ireland), Public Republic (Bulgaria), The Osprey Review (Wales), The Istanbul Literary Review (Turkey) and other magazines. Some of his work can be found at http://eyeonlifemag.com/the-poetry-locksmith/donal-mahoney-poet.html#sthash.OSYzpgmQ.dpbs

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             A School Bus Is Coming


On weekday mornings
on a quiet corner 
three moms with small   
sons and daughters
wait for a school bus 
they hope is coming

The children laugh 
play a game of tag
three moms are silent
three feet apart

One reads a book
another smokes
the other checks
her cell phone

The bus pulls up
the kids pile on
and rush to windows
to wave good-bye
the moms all wave 
as if in sync

The bus takes off  
makes its turn
three moms
walk home 
three feet apart
down the block
without a word

three moms
with children gone 
are free at last 
white, black and brown 




                    A Prescient Moment


Melanie was waiting for the light to change
at 12th and Broadway when a large fellow in 
a big truck and 10 gallon hat roared up 

right beside her. His truck cab loomed 
above her old Buick. His stereo boomed 
so loud her windows rattled. His truck was

worth less than one of his monster tires. 
Melanie chafes when a big truck parks 
next to her at Walmart especially if an SUV 

pulls in and parks on the other side.  
She’s afraid she’ll back out and hit 
an oncoming car like her father did. 

Minutes later Melanie arrived at Walmart
and had to park between a truck and SUV.
Visitation will be held at 4 on Monday.





   A Swede, A Dane and Two Norwegians


Everyone who has money
should drop it in a vat and
anyone who needs money

should take what they need 
a Swede, a Dane and two 
Norwegians tell Fred, also an

economist who flew in from Yale.
After a three-day seminar in the
Antarctic, the four men sit down 

with tankards of ale, each comfy 
in a chaise lounge chair on 
an ice floe slowly melting.

Back at Yale, CNN interviews Fred 
about his book on the seminar.
The CIA is now investigating.




        A Sportsman on the Weekends

Some things can’t be fixed
any other way says Bill
in his bedroom

on the third floor
hoping to get some sleep
after working the third shift.

He adjusts the scope on 
his hunting rifle, makes certain
the silencer’s on right  

glares out the window at 
a bull terrier barking all day,
a dog that has never worked

a day in its life, Bill says.
In another minute the terrier  
will never have to either





                  A Lot More Bounce


Fred jerks back in his recliner 
as his wife puts him on the spot 
and asks his opinion about 

a dress she bought on sale 
at a fancy place for a great price.
The dress is the size she wore 

years ago when they first met.
It was the only size left. 
Fred shouldn’t have said 

“Lovely dress, my dear, for 
evenings around the house.
A lot more bounce."
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