Donal Mahoney Poems

Brother Al, in his hood,
is out in his field
making love to his bees.
From my room I can see him
...

Five kids, eight years.
And then one day my wife
shouts to me on the tractor
roaring in the field:
...

The New Morse Hotel
Chicago, circa 1970

What if after Browne has gone
...

In 1948 Booger McNulty's coal yard stirred
constant gossip among the citizens who lived
in little bungalows on narrow blocks
in my far corner of Chicago.
...

We christened Megan
Catholic today
just as we had,
years ago, Sean and Nora.
...

Perhaps it's true
perhaps it's not

we'll never know
if it's the reason
...

Beulah needs another man who'll take
the garbage out at dawn and not
bring it back again at midnight, something
Jasper's done many nights for years.
...

Zenobia Jackson told Officer Murphy
that her husband, Rufus,73 years old,
was 'a wonderful man when he was awake'
but he had been jerking 'something terrible'
...

If one could store them
in the attic without stir
and turn to other things,
...

The weekday Mass at 6 a.m.
brings old folks out
from bungalows
around the church.
...