Lady in the Snow | Donal Mahoney - Contemporary Poetry Website Featuring Notable Poems

Lady in the Snow | Donal Mahoney

I turn the porch light on at 4 a.m.
to see if a miracle’s occurred
and the paper’s landed somewhere
in the snow blanketing our lawn.
Instead I see a clump on the mat
a one-eyed cat dazed by the cold
looking at me as if to say
“Are you the guy I saw
a week ago before I ran?”
Every morning now I feed
two feral toms at our back door
but never a cat at our front door.
My wife might say okay
once she knows this cat’s
a lady in big trouble.
When I open the door
the cat runs across the street
turns around, sits on the curb
looks at me and says, “Listen, Mister,
I’m cold and hungry but we just met.
One quick peek is all you get.”

More at http://booksonblog12.blogspot.com/.

A Comfortable Retirement | Donal Mahoney - Contemporary Poetry Website Featuring Notable Poems

A Comfortable Retirement | Donal Mahoney

Retired now, he’s half St. Francis
every season of the year, putting out

sunflower seed and safflower seed
for bickering cardinals and jays,

niger seed for the goldfinch mob,
millet for the different sparrows,

feeds feral cats at an early hour
that eat and leave before

the birds drop down.
He and his wife go downtown

and step around old men drifting
like pigeons, begging for change.

More at http://booksonblog12.blogspot.com/.

The Deli on Granville | Donal Mahoney - Contemporary Poetry Website Featuring Notable Poems

The Deli on Granville | Donal Mahoney

I lived in the attic back then,
and late those evenings I had to study
and couldn’t afford to go drinking
I’d run down to the deli and buy
bagels and smoked lox.
I’d watch the lame son
wrap each item in white paper
while his father, coughing at the register,
pointed to the cans on the wall
and screamed, “Serve yourself! Serve yourself!”
I’d grab a tin of baked beans and he’d smile.
Now, years later, I return to the deli
and find that it’s closed.
The sign on the door confirms
what everyone else already knows:
There has been a death in the family.

More at http://booksonblog12.blogspot.com/.

Confined Freedom | Martine V. Clarke - Contemporary Poetry Website Featuring Notable Poems

Confined Freedom | Martine V. Clarke

They say we are free
Our minds opened
Thoughts liberated
Ideas released
We are free

Free slaves and victims of selfish righteousness
Free servants in institutional bondage
Free bondsmen under a capitalist-like serfdom
Free puppets controlled by the strings of their commandments
Free, once we remain chained in the dungeons of their morals and
statutes
They say we are free
And will always be free

For liberty is of the mind
And captivity is the basis of reality
We are free
Once we remain in their mental confines
We are free
Once we bow to their constitutional idols

They say we are free
And we will always be free

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