His cardiologist says Fred’s doing well for a man of 80. It won’t be his heart that kills him.

Spider in the sink this early autumn morning swirls in a whirlpool Donal Mahoney

Used to be after a snow our doorbell would ring and we’d find boys with shovels in hand looking to make some money.

A student asks the old poet why he has spent so many years writing. The old poet says no one’s asked him that before. He needs a minute to answer.

He looks for you until you find him while you wonder if he’s there Donal Mahoney

Someone you respect does something that sticks in your craw like a fish bone dining in a crab shack. You try to cough it up

Happened 40 years ago senior year of college they were engaged to marry in June till he dropped her off

Both of them had been to Korea. Both of them had made it back. One found a job

“Quiet, please,” I tell her, “I want to hear the music.” She is sitting next to me again, this time on a paisley couch, a woman in a lime bikini I met

Lightning bolts in childhood can scar the soul forever. They’re a satanic baptism when the minister’s your father, mother, brother, sister,

In the paper this morning a woman in the suburbs complained she has to eat too much steak too often because her husband

How many times have I said I’m through teasing myself, through pretending I don’t enjoy the wreath of a woman

Twin sons in different cities decked out in new suits fly home for the holidays arrive at the airport

Someone smart told me yesterday you never really know the meaning of a word until