Vintage poetry presents: Poems by Donal Mahoney

Caseworker Takes Notes

I was there the day

there trickled down the wall

of an old man's room one roach

that stopped across

a canyon in the plaster till

the old man's elevated slipper fell.

The roach absorbed the blow

and as though perforated for that purpose

dissolved into an archipelago.

The old man looked at me

and patiently explained, "Despite my 

constant smacking of its brethren

one roach each day will trickle down that wall

and pause and pose as if to say,

'Go ahead and smack me, that's okay.' "

To take advantage of the archipelago at hand

the old man pointed toward the last palpitating island

and once again explained,

"Each roach I smack, you see,

offers me that same good-bye--

one last flicker of antennae."

Donal Mahoney 

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Donal Mahoney has had work published in Vintage Poetry and various print and electronic publications in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Some of his earliest work can be found at http://booksonblog12.blogspot.com/