Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Poses His Mother for a Portrait
Let the tea cup
hold your attention.
Do not dare to raise your chin.
I will make you ugly
if you speak.
I will paint an eagle
on your head
and he will flap wings
on your ears.
I could paint the lids off your eyes,
and make your nose
fuller than August
with just a few strokes.
Your lips could fade
as purple as your tongue.
Your hair
tucked into an inelegant knot,
My knife
scrapes your ear.
Do not think
I paint
the collar on your dress
to show off your perfect neck.
Tom O’Malley, Who Should Have Taken the Pledge
You were perloothered, Tom
Hacking back the Guinness
Couldn’t wait for the malt to settle out
its black body’s
cunning head.
You flew down Perking’s Road
right into the tree by Packie Quinn’s.
Did your lips taste hop
before they reached the glass?
Did you wander into the dark, your
knees as stiff as your father’s
who loved the swagger?
The teetotalers are
your pall bearers
cleaned and pressed
lined up at the altar
side by side.
Gold temperance badges
pinned to their lapels
shoulders solid
and straight.
Damn fool.
You should have taken the pledge.
Sworn before Father McTague
you would thirst
until your dying day.
My Brother and I Conduct His Antique Car Business in the Visiting Room of Maximum Security
The pinky reads Moonglow Beatnik Bandit Paint
notes he’s made from a prison-issue pen
for the wings of the dragon of his 36′ Chevy.
His hands, a full blown fan.
On his ring finger
Rodders Journal
Find the 50th
anniversary edition.
His middle finger wants me
to contact Jerry Hagen
for a 1939 keyhole cover
and he says, pay him with a money order.
His index finger has a drawing of a pump
from the 32′ Ford.
See if it’s in the basement
at Norwood Avenue
under my red tool chest.
His thumb is Black Bee Headlights
Look below the Don’t Mess with Texas sign
I turn his hand in mine to study his requests
There is no grease under his finger nails.
Mary Lou Maloney is a poet and former lobbyist for The Arc of Massachusetts, an organization that represents people who are developmentally delayed in the State of Massachusetts. She has studied poetry under Barbara Helfgott Hyett and is a member of Poemworks: The Workshop For Publishing Poets. As a first generation Irish American, her writing has often focused on her upbringing in Rhode Island in the Roman Catholic Church. She received her undergraduate degree at Regis College and her Masters at Boston College. She currently resides in Boston with her husband.
