The Shine Journal
Exceptional Flash, Poetry, Art and Photography!
Three From Donal Mahoney
Zimbabwe (aka Mozambique & Darfur)
Photo by:Flávio Takemoto
From shimmering oil
of ebony still
will come flailing of limbs
will come hacking, quick slashing
of hands now untied
tattooing no pattern
not even a maze
depriving gray walls of their stone
will come spittle
wild churning rivers
agush from slack jaws
of blanching gray hounds
till one day at dawn
will come quiet
Caseworker: Yams and Plantain
Cabrini-Green Housing Project
Image by Rodolfo Clix
Bienvenido’s comin’ over,
says his wife,
to ‘splain me
why the kids
have got no rice,
no beans,
how the landlord’s
shovin’ notes beneath
the door again.
In Puerto Rico Bienvenido
dug up yams,
was paid in plantain,
came over here,
brought his wife,
then his kids.
First
then
gave up yams,
gave up plantain,
just to drum
and make a living.
Country Cafeteria
in
Photo by: Nico Van Der Merwe
The two weeks
I spent in that small town
on assignment, I saw no blacks
except for two older women
regal in every way,
hair coifed in silver gray,
working in the Country Cafeteria.
They walked like pastors’ wives
as they bused their 20 tables.
White badges on their uniforms
announced in red their names,
their years of service.
They never said a word,
not even to each other.
They just took the cups and plates away
and wiped oil tablecloths pristine.
I took three meals a day in silence there,
the only place in town to eat.
I was the stranger in a suit and tie,
a city weed among stout farmers in old coveralls
who came to town each day to note
“no rain yet” and “the corn is dyin’.”
Before each meal instead of saying Grace,
I wanted to stand and ask these ladies
as they bowed before the clutter on their tables:
If you have worked here all these years,
and lived in this town also,
where in the Name of God,
other than at home or church,
are you free to talk or laugh or sing
or clap your hands in emancipation?
BIO: I have worked as an editor for The Chicago Sun-Times, Loyola University Press, McDonnell Douglas Corporation (now Boeing), and
I've returned to writing in retirement and have sent out some new stuff and have been lucky enough to have about 60 poems accepted in a variety of print and online publications.
