Donal Mahoney Poems

After World War II, I grew up in a neighborhood where most people made it but some did not. I don’t recall social services being available then but they may have been. It’s possible adults may have chosen not to access them or perhaps did so very quietly, without telling neighbors and other family members.

Many of the same problems we have with us today were present then but they didn’t have names such as Attention Deficit Disorder or Hyperkinesis. Families dealt with problems, for better or worse, unless they became so severe “authorities” had to be called in. The police would usually be the first authority to arrive and would take certain individuals away. But in cases not involving the law, fairly often the individual—adult or juvenile—simply disappeared and was not seen again. No explanation was given.
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All over the world
folks die every day
by the thousands
sometimes the millions
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After World War II
before television,
before women had tattoos
before men wore earrings,
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She works in a sandwich shop
splitting loaves of bread
stacking them with meat
for the construction crew
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for Jimmy Swaggart

It’s not easy watching preachers
howling on television
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I used to talk to myself
and ask a lot of questions
but my answers made no sense
so now I talk to Him.
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We’re not the Trumps
my wife and I
but we have enough
and can’t complain
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Father had a law
when it came to leaves
gathering on our lawn in fall.
On a Saturday each fall,
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Autumn arrives
and the local high school
has a good football team.
They take the field every afternoon
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The Downy is the smallest flicker
but his arrival is uninvited and
disturbs the hummingbirds
circling in fury
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