Two Appliqués

by Donal Mahoney

If the greatest of these
is charity
then tell me again
why it’s gauche
if this young man
in a booth at a bar
dives under the skirt
of the farmer’s widow
smiling across from him.

There he will find
what he’s after
and get that big kiss
before driving her home
through jackhammer rain
and flying with her
through the windshield
making a turn.

Now they’re a legend
the talk of the town
emblazoned forever
for pickups to see
as two appliqués
on a viaduct wall,
their Rorschachs
bright red,
whatever their ages.

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, Revival (Ireland), The Istanbul Literary Review (Turkey), Willows Wept Review, Poetry Friends, Poetry Super Highway, Pirene’s Fountain (Australia), Public Republican (Bulgaria), and other publications.
Back to Issue Five: Fall 2009