Poem - Caseworker Takes Notes by Donal Mahoney

Caseworker Takes Notes by Donal Mahoney

I was there the day
there trickled down the wall
of an old man's room one roach

that stopped across
a canyon in the plaster till
the old man's elevated slipper fell.

The roach absorbed the blow
and as though perforated for that purpose
dissolved into an archipelago.

The old man looked at me
and patiently explained, "Despite my
constant smacking of its brethren

one roach each day will trickle down that wall
and pause and pose as if to say,
'Go ahead and smack me, that's okay.' "

To take advantage of the archipelago at hand
the old man pointed toward the last palpitating island
and once again explained,

"Each roach I smack, you see,
offers me that same good-bye--
one last flicker of antennae."

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Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. 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 the U.S. and abroad in a variety of print and online publications. Recently he received word that he has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. However, the nomination is for a poem he hopes no one reads in its present state.
©2010 Donal Mahoney, All Rights Reserved