Poem – Bunny Day (By Donal Mahoney)
Bunny Day Christmas is now the Holidays. But Hanukkah is still Hanukkah and Ramadan is still Ramadan. Easter still has its name. The media needs more time to make the change.
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Poem – Sally in the Alley and Joanie in the Weeds (By Donal Mahoney)
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 […]
Read moreShort Fiction – American Innocence, Our Children Now and Then (By Donal Mahoney)
American Innocence, Our Children Now and Then By Donal Mahoney As we know, sometimes we can see the big picture by peeking through a keyhole. And in America today perhaps we can see better the state of innocence among young children by looking at a recent incident in middle America. A retired grammar school teacher, Thomas Thacker, is surprised […]
Read morePoem – A Good Customer (By Donal Mahoney)
A Good Customer I saw Al once a month for 30 years, maybe more, doing business together. He retired to hunt bear in Alaska, hook Tarpon in Florida, golf in Scotland. He had it all planned. Nothing would stop him. Months later I learned doctors said he had cancer of the blood. The outlook was bleak. I called Al and he said six months, […]
Read morePoem – A Nuclear Childhood (By Donal Mahoney)
A Nuclear Childhood What if your parents had never met had never married had never yelled at each other and instead had wed someone they loved and lived peacefully all those years. That would have been their Eden but you shaking there now decades later wouldn’t be with us cursing the tremors of a […]
Read morePoem – Big Bang for Little Billy (By Donal Mahoney)
Big Bang for Little Billy This was the first Christmas Billy was old enough to speak when he saw his gifts under the sparkling tree. His parents were waiting to hear what he’d say. Billy laughed and jumped and clapped his hands. With a big smile, he shouted “Santa brought me these!” Then Daddy picked Billy up, bounced him on his knee and whispered […]
Read moreEssay – A Stranger in the Soup Kitchen Spills the Beans (By Donal Mahoney)
A Stranger in the Soup Kitchen Spills the Beans I have a friend, old and retired, who keeps busy helping the poor. Let’s call him Ted because he wants to remain anonymous. Some of his ideas, he says, wouldn’t make many of his neighbors happy. Ted has had problems of his own in life. No need to list them. He managed to […]
Read moreEssay – Long Before ISIS (By Donal Mahoney)
Long Before ISIS Thirty years ago, long before ISIS started executing Kurds, Muslims and Christians, I hired a Pakistani Muslim as an art director in Chicago. I was an Irish Catholic editor putting out a small national magazine. I hired him because his work samples were good and he had worked for the United States embassy in Pakistan for […]
Read moreEssay – Meeting Dad Again (By Donal Mahoney)
Meeting Dad Again by Donal Mahoney My father emigrated from Ireland to the United States in the early 1920s. He had been released from Spike Island by the English who “occupied” Ireland at that time. Spike Island was the “Guantanamo” of that era, located just off the coast of Ireland. It was there the English warehoused prisoners of the […]
Read moreInternment Camps in the United States
Internment Camps in the United States Miyuki is old enough to have been a child during World War II. Indeed, some of her students are that old as well but they are eager to learn and listen to her carefully. She is a teacher of floral arrangements in the Japanese style of Ikenobo but her face always seems sadder […]
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