Sunday, July 19, 2015

Donal Mahoney- Three Poems


When Sparrows Matter More

Find the book
and blow
the dust off.

It’s somewhere 
in the house.
Every house

used to have one
if only to record
births and deaths.

Find the passage
about the sparrows
and you will see 

that you and I 
and every man
are worth more 

than any sparrow
yet you and I 
and every man may

spread seed 
or old bread
for sparrows  

on a winter day
yet hustle past
the homeless man

who squats
in sun or snow
outside McDonald’s.



Piccolos

Walking in the forest
as morning comes
I hear piccolos

of wrens and robins
offer hymns to God
some say isn’t there

and isn't anywhere.
The piccolos, some say, 
are simply fallout

from the Big Bang.
I tell the wrens and robins 
but they play on.



Game Called

It’s bad news, I admit,
having these great seats
for a big game like this

but now there’s rain
and everyone's 
leaving

heading for cars
but the storm's a rainbow 
compared with this text  

on my cell phone. 
It’s from an old friend
recently retired

after doing 40 years 
as a janitor for
a pittance in pay.

He moved to Florida
on social security
and rented a trailer.

He quit smoking finally, 
said it’s cheaper to chew. 
Today the doc told him

to wrap things up.
Gave him six months, 
maybe a year.


 
Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
 
 

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