Husband and Wife on Hassocks Eating Sausage

By Donal Mahoney He tries again to situate his grosbeak nose beneath his spectacles. He twists the silver toothpick in his teeth and hunches now a little more toward her, saying “Listen, dear, I’ve said all this before, and now I’ll say it all again. Perhaps this time you’ll listen: “You’re slovenly and gross. Your [...]

Read Full Post »

Lemon Underwear

By Donal Mahoney The New Morse Hotel Chicago, circa 1970 What if after Browne has gone one of us discovers who Browne was, leads the rally to his room before the maid has time to broom the webs, retrieve from underneath the bed the sweat-stiff socks, the lemon underwear? What if before he leaves Browne [...]

Read Full Post »

Death A Bear

By Donal Mahoney Odd the way the very old pick a winter day to fall, break a minor bone, be assigned to bed and death a bear napping out the winter rises in his lair, instantly aware here is Spring and ultimately honey.

Read Full Post »

Bungalow Couple Redux

By Donal Mahoney They weren’t talking at all, back then. Deep in that house, conceiving their dwarfs, they weren’t talking at all, back then. And they’re not talking at all, right now. Still in that house, rearing their dwarfs, they’re not talking at all, right now. And they won’t be talking again. When the dwarfs [...]

Read Full Post »

Sitting Shiva in a Hotel Lobby

By Donal Mahoney For a year this image has haunted me. Over and over I hear on the gramophone Cohen put in my ear “Feature this: On a crowded elevator a strange woman in a baseball cap unbuttons your fly.” That image is on the ceiling every night as I sit shiva in the lobby [...]

Read Full Post »

Jimmy the Blind Man Says He’s in Love

By Donal Mahoney Remember, a blind man can see things a sighted man can’t. So I’ll tell you about her and then you can tell me whether I’m right. The first time a man meets her, his eyes flicker and dart. Desire, an appropriate reaction. The first time a woman meets her, her eyes pop [...]

Read Full Post »

Physical For An Old Woman Picked Up Wandering

By Donal Mahoney Between her legs the doctor found a goatee gray as city pigeons flying through factory smoke a goatee that hadn’t been combed that hadn’t been kept that quit in fangs an inch above her knees

Read Full Post »

Mop Woman

By Donal Mahoney Near dwarf this woman. Foreign born, Minsk, perhaps. Her nose a fist. Her hair a whisk broom only black. Her back an Orthodox cupola. Her arms braids of gym rope lowered to the floor. Orangutans could climb those ropes, hand over hand, no rose no purple doughnuts on their hinds. Near dwarf [...]

Read Full Post »

Love and Slaughter

By Donal Mahoney Sheep are by a goat while cattle are like swine, prodded, yet cattle go by hammer while swine are by the hind leg hung then swung about to spigot. Quicker, infinitely cleaner, is the hacksaw of sweet Susan’s laughter.

Read Full Post »

Honeymoon in the Garden Apartment

By Donal Mahoney Lacking in the expertise of those accustomed to the practice my wife and I completed for the first time what we later would perfect. Afterward, my wife arose, excused herself, and padded through three rooms. Through three rooms, as I lay back, I could hear the porcelain singing to her urine.

Read Full Post »