HERO OR ZERO? To die on the battlefield leading a charge, Your body upon a shield, burned in a barge – An image heroic of Viking portrayal Approvingly stoic, quite worthy of hail. The fireman rushing pall-mall into blaze As on 9-11, the last of his days. No body recovered from building’s collapse. Just wife, children, mother to […]
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Sylvia’s Son I was wrapped in a towel like a bad dream, wet feet on linoleum. I was too preoccupied to see the cracked blood, to hear the silence until I was knee- deep in your tomb. Sometimes, I dreamt you were a baby being born, waking to a pain that was not yours, a motherhood I never had. It […]
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Early Morning, Tucson Foothills Shadows jag over rock and cactus playing tag with the rising sun, nature’s Rorschach asking me what these immense ink blots mean. This one’s the boogeyman scaring/scarring my daughter, that one’s a tarp smothering moist green fields of my youth, the one crest high a black stallion galloping away with loved ones’ years. […]
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BARBARIANS AT THE GATES Once Rome attained its pinnacle Remained on top of things. Though forces quite inimical Sought to destruction bring. Some conquered thought despicable Rome’s impositioning Of laws it deemed applicable When “Pax-Romana”-ing Four centuries continuous Spanned Romans’ reign as king Throughout the lands contiguous Mediterranean. Just like empires classical From whom […]
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You climb and these steps spread out in those rings trees still carry under their wings –you collect height and at night two at a time though the steps are chipped the inscriptions worn away staring off to the side –they will be first spruced back to life and at the top you move the sun back […]
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Sponging Up Succor I’m suffering through vinegary days, as if I’m Jesus at His Calvary. Arrested from my customary ways by modern versions of its harsh decree, I bend beneath the burden of my cross. Recalling laurels in Jerusalem, I’m painfully reminded of my loss who sport a fool’s cap for a diadem. As I secure my seat at […]
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House for Sale in Shady Acres The question isn’t why your little world is suddenly going to hell. The question is what can you do about the black couple touring the house on your block where the sign just went up day before yesterday. The neighbors are calling and everyone’s asking what can be done before they buy it. Old Smitty is barely cold in […]
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Finding a Refugee a Home Fuzzy wasn’t my cat although I fed him every morning at four o’clock for 10 years. He was my wife’s cat, loved to sit on her lap, be petted, jump down and rub his head against her feet. He was a Maine Coon cat who arrived at our door as a refugee without papers or a green card. Probably was a pet once; someone […]
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Rocky Mountainscaping At the same height of Every rocky mountain Above all seasonal change A snowline is widely & cursively cut As if to bite a whole patch of Sky from heaven With rows of rows of Whale-like teeth
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Daily Paper on the Lawn An hour before dawn the paper is out on the lawn white in the moonlight a trumpet dozing after a long night in a jazz bar tired from playing but willing to play a last set for me not knowing I read only sports and the obits two riffs in the paper anyone can believe Author Bio: Donal Mahoney lives […]
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