The Prince
8/18/2022
A tall,handsome,wealthy Prince from Minsk,
Married a beautiful,young twin from Pinsk.
Found she wasn’t chaste.
Threw her out posthaste!
Learn this lesson from charming lovers.
Judge not,a book by its false cover!
Categories:
minsk, fantasy, humor,
Form: Limerick
yes put in prison
bad really bad
not unprovoked
coup ten four
nearly half score
different tongues
east west religion allegiance
outside
virgin merrika break promise
bill george barry donny
angie admit minsk
buy time pump arms
one fourkay east dead
meanwhile
roulette politic
phantom rushing
doing same both side usual
smoke mirrors bait switch bump
cry smile shout you essay
you know usual while
mic
well forget now
donny pause get joey
oh humanity
chief can start not stop mic
Jesus must explain
yes yes crime wanted connection
zel promise peace
joey change script
czar said too far
joey promise no more north stream
surenough nine month
come true
three war tank tank
delivery who knows when
food meds house teachers roads broke
mic one with eleven zeros climbing
keep going til czar rational
not let opp regret fly or
back down like did end two double v two
please lol history books texas
you essay virgin merrika love fodder people
fly flag virgin merrika
hail bearer mars midas
roulette rushing talking
points
aim fire
not my ten nine boy
y'all lying thieving
pieces canine scat
Categories:
minsk, anger, history, humanity,
Form: Free verse
A silly young man from Segovia
Was eager to collar a novia:*
When asked for his preference,
He gave points of reference,
Restricted from Minsk to Monrovia.
When asked, an old maid from Madrid
Answered testily, “Heaven forbid!”
But then, once wined and dined,
She felt less disinclined:
She said, “Maybe I will” – and she did!
* novia = girlfriend
Categories:
minsk, humorous, light,
Form: Limerick
A woman arrived early from Minsk
Hoping to get a nod from the prince
His procession went by
She never caught his eye
Now her fondness for him is past tense
Categories:
minsk, england, hope, humor, poetry,
Form: Limerick
Though Canton claims it’s communist, it’s not.
Beijing, like Belarus, breeds oligarchs.
There’s nobody alive who’s heard of Marx:
a rickshaw ride’s the only kind of trot.
Seek Mensheviks in Minsk, you’ll end with squat.
In Kursk are cadres countable as quarks,
and proles in Petrograd? Like hunting snarks.
It’s Putin’s perestroika, not Pol Pot.
Why did the whole thing vanish in thin air?
Why’s Sputnik spat on? Why is red so square?
We needn’t be complacent in the West.
There’s lots to learn within the Warsaw Waltz
for, as a tool to scrutinise the faults
of Christian Capital Conquest, it’s the best!
Categories:
minsk, satire,
Form: Sonnet
The key, for me, must be those onion domes.
Concentric skins, like Russian dolls, contain:
they don’t obtrude. Defensive rings explain
the posture. Let’s not bother Sherlock Holmes
with this one. Save Bill Bailey’s fine-tooth combs.
They feared for Minsk, like others fear for Maine.
The Wall was there, so brains would cease to drain
towards those tail-fins, all decked out in chrome.
They tried to build a comely comfort-zone,
a space to place a hundred home-grown flowers.
We couldn’t wait to see it overthrown
(Archangel, Wayne, Polaris, Gary Powers,
Capone, Stallone, Cohns, drones and Sharon Stone).
They wanted only to be left alone.
Categories:
minsk, satire,
Form: Sonnet
IMMIGRANTS
Used to play cards Friday evening in Dublin
With immigrant Soviets who had come west to work..
Guy mopping the floor in hotel café used to be
A scientist in some Soviet space program.
Took my breath away.
One woman was the ex-head nurse of
The Accident and Emergency unit
In a major Kiev hospital, specializing in eye injuries -
She could save your injured eye and save your life.
She was a toilet cleaner in the hotel.
Took my breath away
A bed-maker in the hotel was an ex-mathematician
From a university in Minsk. I did some card tricks.
He could understand the tricks purely mathematically
And could predict the exact card statistically.
Took my breath away.
The waitress in the café where we used to meet
Had been a teacher of handicapped children in Moscow.
How is this waste of talent possible
In a world where the needs of many are not met ?
Takes my breath away.
Categories:
minsk, introspection, people
Form: Narrative
Mop Woman
Near dwarf this woman.
Foreign born. Minsk,
perhaps. Nose
a fist. Hair
a whisk broom
only black. Her back
an Orthodox cupola,
her arms braids of gym rope
lowered to the floor.
Orangutans could climb
those ropes, hand
over hand, no rose
no purple
doughnuts
on their hinds.
Near dwarf this woman.
Foreign born. Minsk,
perhaps.
Her hands, all gristle,
hang an inch, no more,
above her shining floor.
Donal Mahoney
Categories:
minsk, on work and working
Form: Free verse
It's clear. Sunny deadly town,
its square with old young bones is lined.
Cold furtive faces wave the flag
and soldiers guard them and the time.
On concrete a brass band struck up,
A man stepped on a carpet red.
His hand he's keeping on his chest,
into a pantheon heavy steps.
Its fatty body's clapping out,
a daughter of Jezebel on stage,
one right-believer, three lean men.
A speech. A pause. A burst of cheers.
Minsk. April 8th, 2006
Categories:
minsk, social,
Form: Blank verse