Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri. His fiction, nonfiction and poetry have appeared in various publications, including The Wisconsin Review, The Kansas Quarterly, The South Carolina Review, The Christian Science Monitor, The Chicago Tribune and Commonweal. Some of his work can be found at http://eyeonlifemag.com/the-poetry-locksmith/donal-mahoney-poet.html#sthash.OSYzpgmQ.dpbs=
A Limp Others Can’t See
The old man
crossing the street
has a bad limp
we try to ignore.
No one wants to look
at a limp like that.
We like to think
no one else can see
the limp we have
the limp we earned
by ignoring little people
who get in our way
who strike us as
the litter of life we
want swept away.
Mourning a Child at Midnight
Some choose not to have children
others maybe one or two
three seems to be the max now
it’s not like when Paul was young
and a family might have had six or more
the wife at home, the husband working.
Families were big back then.
Now families are considered big
when a couple has more than three.
Years ago Paul and Faye had five
but after she took that midnight call
and learned they had lost a daughter
Faye cried for awhile and then
hugged Paul and whispered
why didn’t we have seven.
A Limp Others Can’t See
The old man
crossing the street
has a bad limp
we try to ignore.
No one wants to look
at a limp like that.
We like to think
no one else can see
the limp we have
the limp we earned
by ignoring little people
who get in our way
who strike us as
the litter of life we
want swept away.
Mourning a Child at Midnight
Some choose not to have children
others maybe one or two
three seems to be the max now
it’s not like when Paul was young
and a family might have had six or more
the wife at home, the husband working.
Families were big back then.
Now families are considered big
when a couple has more than three.
Years ago Paul and Faye had five
but after she took that midnight call
and learned they had lost a daughter
Faye cried for awhile and then
hugged Paul and whispered
why didn’t we have seven.
At Least Now I Can Say Goodbye
Someday you’ll be in bed dying
like I am now and people you love
and some you don't will come by
to say good-bye. They don’t know
what to say because we’re all amateurs
at dying, no experience required.
All I know is that I’ll be leaving
any day now and my visitors know
some day they’ll be leaving too
but unlike me they don’t know when.
Not knowing when would scare me more.
At least now I can say goodbye.
Someday you’ll be in bed dying
like I am now and people you love
and some you don't will come by
to say good-bye. They don’t know
what to say because we’re all amateurs
at dying, no experience required.
All I know is that I’ll be leaving
any day now and my visitors know
some day they’ll be leaving too
but unlike me they don’t know when.
Not knowing when would scare me more.
At least now I can say goodbye.
Donal Mahoney
