This time Wilma is ready for the bastards jimmying her front door, coming back for more. The first time she was asleep,

After all these years my wife at the ironing board, perfect in panties. Donal Mahoney

Do I write in the third person or only in the first? Do my ideas reign supreme or do other ideas work as well? Do I know I’m always right

Every evening, up in my rooom, I try to finish a poem but Chicago is hot and it’s better outside,

This was the first Christmas Billy was old enough to speak when he saw his gifts under the sparkling tree. His parents were waiting

Willie in his 80s now hadn’t made sense in years. His wife understood his grunts from the recliner where she propped him up

I used to be flexible about meetings at work. Change the hour of a meeting, no problem for me.

Phone rings. Wilbur answers it. “This is Grace. Is Thelma there?… “No,” says Wilbur. “She’s out won… “You mean wandering about?” ‘No, she used to wander about. No…

If the greatest of these is charit… then tell me again why it’s gauche if this young man in a booth at a bar

Not a leaf left on the crabapple t… instead little red apples hang like ornaments on a Christmas tree… Little red apples that spend most of the winter covered with sn…

It tears the stomach out of Roy to see old folks shopping at an all-night grocery store ancient couples, on canes and walkers

I can’t speak for the women attending this conference on Homeland Security. They’re scholars, too, brought here for their expertise.

No one goes to the patio now except at night when Ann goes out to spread old bread and sunflower seed on the small table for birds

There’s a force that makes a boulder hard to push up a hill. And there’s always a boulder and always a hill when it comes to helping the poor find something

Jim met an old friend from college days long after both retired. They were classmates on the beautiful campus,