From my stool in the diner I watc… the old woman with elm tree arms command the big booth in back and roar for a menu, take a half hour to read it

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

My wife likes to garden. She’s crazy about roses, lilies and daisies. She says I should get out in the garden and weed.

During the day there might be three cars parked at different places anywhere on the block. But at midnight there isn’t

Inferno of a summer day Mother’s dozing Tommy, tiny, three, paring knife in hand tiptoes out, flops

November’s lovely in the rain, she… from her rocker near the window to no one in particular although the butler’s waiting for her groce… having walked her Pekingese.

Some women use perfume and that’s fine. Some don’t and that’s fine too. Over the years

You thought you knew her. She thought she knew you. Neither was true but this happens at times at Happy Hour on Fridays

Things reach a certain age, an age at which things don’t work the way they once did. The battery in your car,

One, a nun, has her transfer in her hand. She’s silently praying. Another, a hooker, has her income in her purse.

Raul is a kind man who plays marimba in a salsa band at LA clubs late into the night. Some afternoons he plays

Every day the same people at the same table at the rear of the cafeteria. The maiden, 35 at least, is gray at the temples,

Porch light bright all night keeps thieves away but not the moths that dance till dawn

Where I live the press says teen use of heroin is epidemic. I thought an epidemic was a widespread disease afflicting thousands caught in

Pistols in holsters very early this morning. She’s wearing a bra Donal Mahoney