Raspberry Hives
Oct 6th, 2009 | By Donal Mahoney | Category: Poetry | 544 viewsThe ancient man with raspberry hives
on his cheeks since childhood
will live alone no longer.
He will marry, he says,
the first woman who’ll have him.
Till now he has wanted to die
as he’s lived, alone in his room
with the radio playing,
the water in the bathtub
dripping. The drone of hours,
however, has become
the drone of years
and the ancient man with raspberry hives
on his cheeks since childhood
fears death will convert
his hives into pocks, take his body
but reject his soul.
Now he believes if he weds
the first woman who’ll have him
death will have reason,
for the first time,
to do the job right.
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About Donal Mahoney: Donal Mahoney, a native of Chicago, lives in St. Louis, MO. He has worked as an editor for The Chicago Sun-Times, Loyola University Press and Washington University in St. Louis. He has had poems published in or accepted by The Wisconsin Review, The Kansas Quarterly, The South Carolina Review, The Beloit Poetry Journal, Commonweal, Public Republic (Bulgaria), Gloom Cupboard (U.K.), Revival (Ireland), The Istanbul Literary Review (Turkey), Poetry Friends, Poetry Super Highway, Pirene's Fountain (Australia) and other publications. |
©2009 Donal Mahoney All Rights Reserved
