Donal Mahoney Poems

Young Tim goes to Zaire
to write his dissertation
in African Studies.
...

Someone broke in the house
the weekend the elderly couple was
out of town, a family thing.
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They are a certain way
certain ladies are today
no matter where they are
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Black lives matter
in different ways
to different people
in the American rainbow
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The old poet has agreed to read
his poems in Hanley Hall
if a student will push his
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Three times a day
a train roars through
a field a farm away
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Redbud and dogwood have blossomed
above the tulips and jonquils where
Alice's house used to be.
...

"What can we do to make this right? "

The speaker is Phil Burns, owner of the brokerage firm that Owen Mitchell has had money invested with for years. Owen's not rich and not poor. He just prefers the action of the stock market to the passivity of fixed income.
...

Martin, a very senior citizen, wants to get a bucket and knife and go hunt up some greens in a field in Alabama. But in spite of his yearnings for a big bowl of greens, he knows his wife, Martha, won't want to cook them even if he brings back enough for a feast.

Like him, Martha also grew up poor in Alabama back in the Forties. It was a time when greens were a staple for the poor, black and white, who lived in the country, And they remained a staple for those who moved north to the cities looking for work.
...

Time's a jet plane
when you're young.
You go to school
get a good job
...