Caverns of Sonora, Texas
—Anonymous Photos
—Poems by Donal Mahoney, Belleville, IL
AFTER HE FOUND THE RIGHT ONE
A spelunker he was
from adolescence on.
An outdoorsman
with the best equipment
exploring caves
one after another
shining a big flashlight
as he weaved among the
stalactites and stalagmites
saying he would never
explore another cave
once he found the right one.
He found that cave at forty,
sold his flashlight,
married and settled down.
A spelunker he was
from adolescence on.
An outdoorsman
with the best equipment
exploring caves
one after another
shining a big flashlight
as he weaved among the
stalactites and stalagmites
saying he would never
explore another cave
once he found the right one.
He found that cave at forty,
sold his flashlight,
married and settled down.
Gorham's Cave, Gibraltar
ARETHA HAS AN ANNOUNCEMENT
Noon meal at the nursing home
and everyone is there
chowing down and talking.
Before dessert is served there’s
an announcement to be made
and Maxine is the one to do it
from somewhere in the room.
But few can see her since she’s tiny
just turned 90 and cannot stand.
She’s been doing this for years
and once she starts talking even
the deaf believe they hear.
She’s their Aretha when she booms
“Let’s be in the day room, folks, at 3.
It’s our flu shot time of year."
__________________
A REASONABLE MAN
Fred’s a reasonable man
something he takes pride in.
Just the other night
before he threw a dish
against the wall while
talking with his wife
he told her if he knew
what was wrong with him
he’d see a professional.
Right now he’s too busy.
Two new patients tomorrow
coming in for therapy.
Noon meal at the nursing home
and everyone is there
chowing down and talking.
Before dessert is served there’s
an announcement to be made
and Maxine is the one to do it
from somewhere in the room.
But few can see her since she’s tiny
just turned 90 and cannot stand.
She’s been doing this for years
and once she starts talking even
the deaf believe they hear.
She’s their Aretha when she booms
“Let’s be in the day room, folks, at 3.
It’s our flu shot time of year."
__________________
A REASONABLE MAN
Fred’s a reasonable man
something he takes pride in.
Just the other night
before he threw a dish
against the wall while
talking with his wife
he told her if he knew
what was wrong with him
he’d see a professional.
Right now he’s too busy.
Two new patients tomorrow
coming in for therapy.
Waitomo Caves. New Zealand
A LIMP OTHERS CAN’T SEE
The old man
crossing the street
has a bad limp
we try to ignore.
No one wants to look
at a limp like that.
We like to think
no one else can see
the limp we have
the limp we earned
by ignoring little people
who get in our way
who strike us as
the litter of life we
want swept away.
_________________
BACK TO ALASKA
Happened 40 years ago
senior year of college
they were engaged
to marry in June
till he dropped her off
one night at the dorm
and she said something
He can’t remember
what she said but he
moved to Alaska
married another
she married another too
they had nice families
beautiful children
Widowed now they meet
at the class reunion
she’s a lovely woman
and likes him still
they dance and she says
she saved his ring
would he like it back
It’s a keepsake, he says
tells her to keep it
He can’t remember
what she said that night
at the dorm but he feels
the same pain again
and gets in his truck
it’s home to Alaska
Mountain River Cave, Vietnam
NITWITS LIKE YOU
She was old already
when you had her in 8th grade
and she said you should sit
in the first seat third row
right in front of her for
the rest of the year.
That was half of your sentence
for getting caught rolling
marbles down the aisle
and disturbing the class.
She gave you a choice about
the rest of your sentence.
You could diagram 30 sentences
a night for the rest of the year.
Or she could call your father
and tell him what happened.
Diagramming sounded
very good to you.
Ten years later you finished
a master’s in English and
wanted to thank this nun
who had turned a gutter ball
into a strike but she was
no longer at the school.
Another nun told you she was
in a rest home out of state
and you couldn’t call her or visit.
You could write but you shouldn't
expect an answer.
She was not doing well.
Turning gutter balls into strikes
for more than 30 years
with nitwits like you
had taken its toll.
Cenote Dos Ojos, Mexico
BEARS STARVING IN THE WOODS
Long article in the paper
this morning stops Tim from
gobbling his bacon and eggs.
Bears are starving in the woods.
Too many cubs, too little food.
There’s a plan to feed them.
But no plan yet to feed people
in the city nearby waving signs
about working for food.
A SURVIVALIST FINDS YOU
A long time ago
you bothered him somehow.
Since then he has
bothered you back.
You don’t know how or
when you offended him.
You must have said something.
Always asking how you voted.
Many times you told him
you're sorry for whatever
you said or did back then
but it has done no good.
He gets red in the face
and starts shouting
whenever he sees you.
Finally you find a new job
and move the family
to another city.
Things are peaceful.
You forget about him.
Thirty years later
a knock on the door.
He’s flown in from a cabin
he's built in the woods.
He’s a survivalist now,
collects guns and says
the world is under attack
and you are an agent
for the enemy.
You have no time to leave
a note with his name
for the first-responders.
You would have told them to
find this man soon
and put him away.
Others like you are alive
who have bothered him also.
He’s taking planes
all over America
hoping to find them.
Today he found you.
Marble Caves, Patagonia
ABOVE BOB GORDON’S BOG
The bog above Bob Gordon’s bog
is where they found the body of
an older man floating like a canoe
among the lily pads. He was
covered with crustaceans.
Folks from town and towns
around came to see if he might be
one of theirs, perhaps someone
liquored up who went astray
and fell in the bog while traipsing.
But no one knew the victim so
undertaker Flynn had to bury him
behind Bob Gordon’s bog among
the other strangers buried there
holding up blank tombstones.
_____________________
EPITOME OF GRACE
They are a certain way
certain ladies are today
no matter where they are
summer, fall
winter, spring even
waiting for a bus in rain
to clean hotel rooms
an hour away
epitome of grace
Imperial Cave 3, Jenolan Caves, Australia
AFTER BURYING A WIFE
Were she here with me now,
by the waist I would raise her,
a chalice of wonder.
I’d bellow hosannas
and whirl her around,
tell her again that I love her,
press my face moist
in the pleats of her skirt,
ask her to sprinkle
phlox on the curls
of our children
if they are with her,
ask her to stay a while longer
while I do so much more
were she here with me now.
___________________
Today’s LittleNip:
BARMAID OPENS AT DAWN
a senryu
Pistols in holsters
very early this morning.
She’s wearing a bra
_____________________
—Medusa, with thanks to Donal Mahoney for today’s fine poetry! And no, thankfully his wife has not passed away—that's just his evocative poem about the subject.
Read more about the world’s coolest caves at www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/worlds-coolest-caves/11/.
And to tell the difference between a senryu and a haiku, see startag.tripod.com/HkSenDiff.html/.
Celebrate poetry—and editors! Tomorrow, 4:30-6:30pm,
Phillip Larrea
will be hosting “The Last Word”,
an all-open mic evening, at Sacramento
Voices at
Sac. Poetry Center, 25th & R Sts., Sacramento,
for the
last time. He assures us that the Sac. Voices
anthology will continue
this year (under the auspices of
Dave Boles of Cold River Press), and
that the reading
series may continue (under the auspices of SPC),
but
that he is ready for a break. For more about
tomorrow’s reading and
Phillip’s future, see
And thank
you, Phillip, for hosting a fine monthly
reading series plus a beautiful
annual anthology—no easy job!
Photos in this column can be enlarged by clicking on them once,
then click on the X in the top right corner to come back
to Medusa.