Rose & Thorn Journal - Spring 2012
John Mahoney lives in the woods above Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota. He practiced law as a public defender for fifteen years and continues his legal research and writing, most recently an article in the William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 31. No. 2, 2011. This spring, his poems will be published in The Garbanzo Literary Journal, as well as IMPpress in the UK. He also posts his poetry online at Hello Poetry.
John Mahoney
an incident involving beach glass, in winter, 2012
i.
the lake opened several places where ice
has come unfrozen two idiots drove their
pickup into a hole
last night
ii.
emergency vehicles woke me with sirens
racing to drag the drunks off
before they froze
iii.
beach sand has been uncovered
by the blowing wind which has driven snow
into a drift over the dock we
stored by the
treeline
iv.
walking the sandy shore, i stoop to pick up
a piece of green bottle
glass
v.
the glass is weighty in my hand
rounded
smooth
its edges shaped and polished
by the working of sand, water and time
like an olive
like a cherry
like a memory
of you
an incident involving beach glass, in winter, 2012
i.
the lake opened several places where ice
has come unfrozen two idiots drove their
pickup into a hole
last night
ii.
emergency vehicles woke me with sirens
racing to drag the drunks off
before they froze
iii.
beach sand has been uncovered
by the blowing wind which has driven snow
into a drift over the dock we
stored by the
treeline
iv.
walking the sandy shore, i stoop to pick up
a piece of green bottle
glass
v.
the glass is weighty in my hand
rounded
smooth
its edges shaped and polished
by the working of sand, water and time
like an olive
like a cherry
like a memory
of you
