Donal Mahoney Poems

A long time ago
you bothered him somehow.
Since then he has
bothered you back.
...

Easter Brunch is a big deal
in the metropolis where Fred lives.
Restaurants run their ads
Ash Wednesday through Good Friday.
...

You see things at the rest home
you don't expect to see.
New veteran in his Korea cap is
whipping everyone else in pool.
...

Noon meal at the nursing home
and everyone is there
chowing down and talking.
...

Fred's not a hunter
but Animus is a beast
he'd hunt down and kill
...

My father never talked much about religion but he went to Mass every Sunday, the 6: 30 Mass where few people would be and he wouldn't have to deal with friends and neighbors. His contribution envelope was always filled out the night before, sealed and propped against the salt shaker on the kitchen table. It was gone with him when I as a child rose in the morning.

My sister and I would go to the children's Mass later and my mother to the Mass at noon. We weren't, spiritually speaking, a close family. Truth be known, we weren't a close family. But that's another story sometimes hard to write or explain.
...

Fred's a reasonable man
something he takes pride in.
Just the other night
...

Fred visits Bill every month at
the facility he's been in for years.
Age and booze brought Bill there.
He's still strapped to his bed
...

Happened 40 years ago
senior year of college
they were engaged
to marry in June
...

Long article in the paper
this morning stops Tim from
gobbling his bacon and eggs.
...