Small Backyard by Donal Mahoney

It’s a small backyard

I’ve watched for years

from an upstairs window

while chained to a computer.

Whatever the weather

the old widow was always 

planting in spring

watering in summer

raking in fall

shoveling in winter

but the yard’s quiet now

the only traffic 

a resident squirrel

heading for the oak

over the tall grass 

the widow’s heir 

has stopped mowing.

She told her son

you don’t have to garden 

but please mow the grass

rake the leaves and 

shovel the snow

or I’ll shake you

at midnight 

the rest of your life. 

Donal Mahoney, a native of Chicago, lives in St. Louis, Missouri. His fiction and poetry have appeared in various publications, including The Galway Review (Ireland), The Osprey Journal (Wales), Bluepepper (Australia), Public Republic (Bulgaria), The Istanbul Literary Review (Turkey) and other magazines. Some of his earliest work can be found at http://booksonblog12.blogspot.com.