QUINCY, ILLINOIS:1962

     long before Barack Obama

In 1962 my father toiled in Quincy,

two weeks, no more,

and saw no blacks except for

two young ladies

who moved like swans

bussing dishes

in a farmer's cafeteria.

Daisy badges on their uniforms

announced their names,

their years of service.

He still remembers how

throughout his meal

he wanted to stand,

a stranger in a

seersucker suit,

and shout:

"How can you live here?

Where, except in church,

can you clap your hands

in emancipation?"

About Donal Mahoney:

Donal Mahoney has had poems published in The Montucky Review and other publications in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa.

THE COPYREADER

I have been here a month,
sitting in a circle with others,
reading copy and writing heads.
Today I'm convinced
crime in the streets
will never stop
as long as
someone can write
and someone can read.
I spell "ukulele" for Ulrich
and a strange continent of sweat
breaks out
on the back of my shirt.
"It's as big as Australia,"
says Ulrich.
At that moment I know
I'm letting another July
die in Chicago,
reading copy and writing heads.

About Donal Mahoney:

Donal Mahoney has had poetry published in The Montucky Review and other publications in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

OLD MAN AT THE DINER

He slaughters his hamburger steak

with a fork and a butter knife,

massacres ringlets of onions

again and again

 

thumps catsup all over

the bloody commingling,

then ever so slowly

peppers and salts

 

and reminds me of Hrebic,

whose wife, back

on the block of my youth,

sat all summer out on her stoop,

 

knees awry, one eye black,

the other turning gray,

sunning the great white hydrants

of her phlebitic legs.

 

About Donal Mahoney:

Donal Mahoney has had poems published in The Montucky Review and other publications in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

From The Forest

In another moment

it will all be over.

On this winter night

your breast will slip

from your blouse

like a fawn, in spring,

from the forest.

About Donal Mahoney:

Donal Mahoney, an immigrant from Chicago, lives in St. Louis, Missouri. He has had poems published in a variety of publications in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.