Broken Marriage Poem by Donal Mahoney

Rip had a wife who lost
an arm and a leg
and could no longer wait
on him hand and foot
so he found a woman,
a gymnast, who could

once she landed her jump
from the parallel bars.
Only then would she
do the laundry and cook
and take out the garbage.
Rip liked her better

high on the bars, her
melons bouncing as she
prepared to land her jump.
She went back to the bars
and Rip hired a laundress
and later a cook.

Life's better now for Rip
but not for his former wife
who lost that arm and leg.
There's nothing she can do
with the other arm and leg
not that she ever would.