Blue Jays and Calico

Where Fences Were

—Poems by Donal Mahoney, St. Louis, MO

—Photos of the American River by Katy Brown, Davis, CA

BLUE JAYS AND CALICO

They've been here for years
two blue jays who live in our yard
year round.

In winter they’re silent
at the feeder but screeching
announces when spring is here

and continues through summer
because the jays have babies
two or three times a season.

The calico likes the tins
my wife puts out for him
and the jays gobble the seed

she puts in the feeder.
She was surprised however
to hear the jays screeching

on a raw day this winter.
Then she looked out the window
and saw the calico climbing

into the spruce where the jays
had babies last year and
spend time in the winter.

The Farmer’s Almanac aside,
perhaps the calico believes  
spring will be early this year.

 Bank to Bank

AND GO FOR A BIRDSONG RIDE

Spring will eventually arrive,
Tom tells his youngest daughter
looking out the window at the snow.

Take heart, he tells her,
and listen for the blue jays when
they build a nest in the sycamore

and chase away the other birds
that fly unwelcome into the tree
hoping also to start a family.

He tells his snowbound daughter
once she hears the blue jays' ruckus
spring will be here and she can wear

her jeans and pretty yellow jacket,
get on her tricycle with the other girls
and go for a birdsong ride.

___________________

A LITTLE BOY WANDERS AWAY

A little boy from the city
down on the farm for a day
wanders away

to look at the sheep
and finds a bull
penned up to go

to the county fair.
The boy loves
the big Texas Longhorn

quietly eating his hay.
The boy smiles at him
admires his beautiful horns

thinks they're handlebars
the biggest he’s ever seen.
So over the fence for a ride.  

 Flying Water

ANCIENT OLGA AND HER SNOOP

Our house has a garret
I never went up to until I retired.
Now I’m up there almost every day
unless I have to stay in bed
until another spell passes.

When I feel all right
I’m at the keyboard
in the garret writing
looking out the window
one eye on the neighbors.

They’re all doing well
except for ancient Olga
who’s on crutches now
and has a difficult time
getting to her Buick
especially when it snows.

She knows I’m usually
in the garret watching
and if she falls I’ll call 911.
But on days when I’m in bed
with another spell, Olga
has to be extra careful.
She thanked me once
for being the only snoop.

__________________

BIRTHDAY FOR AN OLD-TIMER

His wife takes him to dinner
as she always does
on his birthday wearing

bright red lipstick, a color
she detests but he likes.
He knows this means

when they get home
bright red panties will call
like a beacon in the night.

 Rapid Water

SALLY IN THE ALLEY AND JOANIE IN THE WEEDS

Sarah makes sandwiches all day,
piling meat and trimmings high
on pillowy bread she spreads 

apart before her customers' eyes.
Hardworking men love her sandwiches
and sometimes date her after work

but none so far has mentioned marriage.
This confuses Sarah who’s as open
as her bread in satisfying men.

That’s not too wise, says Ethel,
a granny clone Sarah chats with
after lunch-hour rush.

Ethel says when she was Sarah's age
women demanded a wedding first,
except for two legends she remembers:

Sally in the Alley and Joanie in the Weeds
were consumed by many men, Ethel says,
then tossed aside like sandwich wrappers.

______________________

A SPIDER IN THE SINK

It’s outpatient surgery
and she’s running late
trying to catch a spider

in the kitchen sink.
Wants to carry it outside
before her boyfriend wakes

and crushes it.
Then she has a long drive
to the clinic and hopes

this will be her last visit.
Her boyfriend lied
about having

that procedure.
She found out the hard way,
shouldn’t have let him back in.

 Roiled

A LEGACY IN BRIEF

The media is brimming with reports
about the legacy of Barack Obama.

He’s accomplished so much
it’s tough for experts to name
his signature achievement.

But the 2016 election said it in neon
blinking in Times Square: Trump!

____________________

AMERICA WILL DISCOVER

If the goal of business
is to make a profit
and it is—and if

the goal of government
is to take care of people
and it is—then in 2017

America will discover
if skills in business
can be transferred

to government.
Even atheists pray
that they can.

 Sharp Things in the Water

NIGHT AND DAY HE WAS THE ONE

There’s a glorious sound system now
in the restored train depot where recruits
from all over the nation once took a 
train to Camp Breckinridge before
taking a plane to Korea.

A fellow who came back from Korea
stopped in at the depot on one leg
recently for a moment of nostalgia.
A burger and fries cost him 20 bucks,
up from the two bucks he paid in '51.
And the music was not quite the same.

A waiter in a bow tie and derby said
they still had the old juke box,
the big Wurlitzer, in the basement
under a sheet or a shroud.
Plug it in and give it a quarter
and he said old Frank would sing.

 The Wide American

SPAM IN MY INBOX

Fancy spam emails
I don’t mind nor the ones
cobbled in broken English

from someone who says
he’s with a bank overseas
and is holding money for me

if I will send a small token
to show my good faith.
No, the spam emails

that bother me
are the ones that use
the names of people

I know well, like my daughter.
Those emails I’d like to answer.
We were close before she died.

__________________

RINGING IN THE EARS

Ringing in the ears
has no cure.
It’s called tinnitus
and you can pronounce it
the way it looks or the way
your doctor says it.

Today I discovered how
to turn the ringing off
and that’s to take
a phone call from your son
who says your daughter
died last night.

She won the first
and second match but
lost the last to cancer.
An hour later you realize
the ringing in your ears
has stopped but there’s
no silence in its wake.

A train of memories
chugs by and stops
and then chugs on again.
You want the ringing
in your ears back again.
You can live with that.

 Fearless

Today’s LittleNip:

AN IMAM SHOULD SAY
—Donal Mahoney

(a senryu)

An imam should say
eternity lasts too long
to sit by the fire

_________________________

—Medusa, with thanks to Donal Mahoney and Katy Brown for today’s fine Friday fare!

 Celebrate poetry tonight in Davis as The Other Voice 
presents Barbara West, Jennifer O’Neill Pickering and 
open mic, 7:30pm. Or head over to Elk Grove 
for the Love Poem Competition at Pins N Strikes.  
Scroll down to the blue column 
(under the green column at the right) for info about 
 these and other upcoming poetry events in our area—

and note that more may be added at the last minute.

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