Boysenberry Eyes Awhirl
By Donal Mahoney

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A Caseworker's Nightmare

In a corner of the room
scribbles of loose yarn soar,
interweave and dive

like coasters at a carnival.
At dusk rats slither from the drain
and barrel through the room

stirring atom puffs of dust
beneath the paper sprung
tongue out from each wall.

Tails wound tight, the rats
skate their figure eights
between the table legs and swirl.

They pause to supper on salami bits,
gherkin nodes, crusts of ancient bread.
At dawn, with boysenberry eyes awhirl,

they belly back and leap atop the sink.
Popping sounds announce
the drain has called them home.


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Donal Mahoney spent two years as a caseworker in the Cabrini-Green Housing Project in Chicago, circa early 1960s, with 458 families in two high-rise buildings. Fantasies like this are the result.