​Another Bad Halloween
 
Fred must explain Halloween to Opal
when he gets home from the poker game.
He just had another bad Halloween.
 
He thinks Opal doesn't know but Ethel
from across the street called Opal
and told her the neighbors all know.
 
Some even have it on their iPhones.
Granny from across the alley
has it on hers and she can hardly
 
use it to call her daughter.
Last year Opal told Fred don't drink
Jack Daniels straight again.
 
It’s embarrassing, she says, to know.
all the neighbors have video of Fred
in his Trump wig and Hillary pantsuit
 
going door-to-door on Halloween
wearing a sandwich-board that says
Vote For Fred Instead.
 
Donal Mahoney

​Within and Without
 
 
Evil without
we worry about but not
so much evil within,
 
parent to evil without.
Evil within, once called sin,
slithers about
 
in beautiful costumes.
Halloween is here
every day of the year.
 
 
Donal Mahoney

​Peculiar Name

Peculiar name, curious
sound on the mouth,
but beautiful all the same.
What was it Ms. Stein
said? A rose and all that.
Doesn't matter about
titles, rumors, or stirrings.
Beauty's just the same.
 
JD DeHart

​The Extreme

Take us
to the edge of
the waters
where our party
tunes lead us
The melody
plays on lazy
waves

We are the makers
of culture

Make us up
Paint us with
kind words 
Paint a trail back
to the landmass
In your lipstick
purse shopping mall
bikini
pop music world.
 
JD DeHart

​Fallout from the War on Women
 
I was warm and toasty,
curled up, napping
in amniotic fluid,
without a worry
when suddenly
this metal thing
came into my room
 
poked around
and pulled me out.
The doctor stabbed me,
smashed my head,
cut off my arms and legs, 
threw my pieces
in a bucket
with the others.
It's been a busy day
at the clinic.
 
At the closing hour,
a nurse dumped
the bucket
in a freezer sack,
took it out in the alley
and threw it in a bin.
In the morning
a private truck
 
took the sack to
the garbage dump.
The driver tossed it
on the highest pile,
launching flies,
at least a thousand.
 
Sitting up here now
I can tell you
I don't need arms or legs.
I can hear
the angels singing.
 
 
Donal Mahoney

​A Whetstone for the Mind
 
Sam's collected knives for 50 years
and has 200, maybe more, relics
from the Civil War and before.
Someone gave him his first knife
when he was 30 as a gift but
he can’t recall who it was.
He hopes he will remember.
 
It’s been many years since Sam
has added a knife to his collection
but long ago he catalogued
every knife he owns, listing each
by provenance, date acquired,
who he bought it from except
of course that first knife
he hopes he will remember.
 
Until a year ago, he sharpened
at least five knives a week
on a special whetstone.
He has never used a knife
but he believes every knife
should always be its sharpest.
 
Sam told his grandson Mike
that a knife is like a mind.
It must be ready to use.
The problem is, he told Mike,
at age 80 Sam has yet to find 
a whetstone for the mind.
 
 
Donal Mahoney

​A Difference of Opinion
 
Please tell me
if I’m right about what
you just told me.
 
You say he came to Earth,
died for me, rose from the dead
for me, ascended to heaven and
sent the Spirit to guide me
and mankind till he returns.
 
All I have to do is believe
he did all this for me
and I’ll spend eternity
in heaven with others
who accept him as their savior.
You say I can’t be damned
 
even if I kill someone
and don’t repent as long as
I accept him as my savior.
I know Moses broke the tablets
but we know what they said.
 
 
Donal Mahoney

​Leaving the Station
 
Each morning
I step from the train
and march with the others
 
leaving the station.
The weatherman's warned of rain
so we're armed
 
with umbrellas,
our briefcases swinging.
Across from the station
 
there's an old hotel
high in the sky. King Kong,
everyone calls it.
 
In tall windows
old men appear,
disappear, reappear.
 
It is August in Chicago
and the old men wear
overcoats and homburgs
 
so no one can steal them.
They light cigarettes,
mumble and curse
 
at the daily parade
leaving the station.
Traffic is thick
 
but even in winter
no one looks up
since no one can hear them.
 
 
Donal Mahoney

​An Oompah! for Grandpa
 
Grandpa has a grandson he hopes
will win a scholarship to meet 
the high cost of college.
 
He tells his grandson to learn
how to play the tuba and apply
for a tuba scholarship with
 
a college marching band.
He says tuba scholarships are
plentiful today because few kids
 
want to lug a tuba in formation.
Grandpa wishes he had learned
to play the tuba 60 years ago.
 
He would lug a tuba today
to pay his room and board at
this frou-frou nursing home.
 
 
Donal Mahoney