Mabel Is There Every Day Poem by Donal Mahoney

If you arrive too early
at the public library
and stand on

the steps with Mabel
till the doors open
you will hear Mabel's

oration for the day.
Mabel is there every day
and her utterances vary.

Today three strangers
hear Mabel tell about
neighborhood teens

who park on her block
and play their car radios
loud into the night

and keep her awake.
She has called the cops
but that hasn't helped.

The next night the cars
are back, windows down,
radios louder than ever.

But Mabel has a solution.
Put those kids in jail
and build a wall

and then deport them.
Don't come to the library early.
Mabel is there every day.