Donal Mahoney Poems

Tattoos were anathema in ‘52
on any man who got one
after an all-night drunk
...

A tractor trailer with slats and moos
pulls up at a city slaughterhouse.
The driver pulls the wrong lever
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Unable to sleep Bill watches
preachers on TV after midnight.
The preachers warn the Saved
...

Homer's a chair arranger who
works in meeting rooms
on 30 floors in a building
tall as Trump Tower.
...

It's a very busy drug store
with seats along the wall
where folks who wait for refills
sit and sometimes chat
...

Virgil comes to group therapy every week in his pick-up truck with his dog, Buster, standing in the bed of the truck. The sessions are held for veterans of Korea and Vietnam. Quite a few veterans in this small town because not many males applied for deferments back then to go to college. Money for college wasn't available and this is, after all, a farming community. In one way or another people here earn their living from the fertile land.

This week as usual Virgil gets out of his truck, flicks a cigarette away and goes in the center. He leaves Buster as usual standing untethered in the back of the truck. Not many Dalmatians around here but Virgil got him somewhere as a pup and for the last six years Buster has been coming with him to therapy once a week.
...

Liberal or conservative
the questionnaire asks
about migrants.
...

Jack, age 6, loves the iPad he uses in kindergarten. He already navigates the net to some degree. But when he accompanied his father to the Post Office, he sat quietly on a bench and read something in print while he waited, no electronics available to distract him.

Jack was caught in the act by his father, armed with a cell phone, who sent the photo immediately to his grandfather many miles away. The grandfather, as usual, was sitting at his computer, typing away, no print nearby to distract him.
...

Three sisters
single in their 40s
gather 'round the fire
...