Donal Mahoney Poems

The kitchens of Auschwitz
are belching again.

Ancient chefs,
...

In 1958 Elmer's was the only high school in his county that had been integrated. Basketball was the big sport. People in the little town filled the gym every Tuesday and Friday. They roared when the home team scored and they booed when the visiting team fouled one of their players. But before and after every game the town was rife with racial tension.

Some folks were neutral about integration, figuring its time had come. Others were adamantly opposed. Hard to say, even in retrospect, if anyone, black or white, was in favor of it. If someone thought it was a good idea, no one said anything. But at every basketball game, people got along, whatever their color. Points mattered and wins mattered. And in 1958 this small school had a very good team. Some might say the team was good in part because of integration.
...

Farmer John knows he's old
but didn't think he was that old
until he went to town one day
and met a young lady he liked
...

Faye gives Fred next door
her sister's number to call
in case Faye dies.
...

Newlyweds cuddle
on a bench in their garden.

A hummingbird pauses
...

America had a choice
November 8 between

a devil they know
...

Melba comes home from the grocery store and tells Fred what happened.

She was walking away from the dairy case with a quart of milk when a young man stopped her. He might have been 20.
...

He doesn't understand distressed jeans.
Designer jeans with rents and tears
look like the rags he grew up in
...

He saved money for years
to vacation in the Everglades
because he has degrees
in the study of reptiles.
...