DS Maolalaí has been nominated eight times for Best of the Net and five times for the Pushcart Prize. His poetry has been released in two collections, “Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden” (Encircle Press, 2016) and “Sad Havoc Among the Birds” (Turas Press, 2019).
The safety of populated lights.
cars on the street
which settle into spaces,
heavy and hanging
as hocks of aged beef.
the windows all open
over closed shops and offices
releasing cigarette clouds
like cold morning mouths.
a woman walking quickly
to get out of a side street
and back to the safety
of populated lights. a man
feeling casual
at the door
to his apartment,
adjusting the weight
of his groceries.
~
The copper of bones
trying my hand
again at Selby Jr
in my comfortable
apartment
with its balcony
in the Dublin
northside. Last Exit
doesn’t work now –
neither does
Requiem. I first
came across them
in elbowish rooms
in Toronto and the north
end of London. something
of the copper
of bones here
I thought. something
of life – a toilet
by the stove
and four feet
from the bedclothes. and art
needs discomfort
to appreciate
properly. Selby
doesn’t function
when the water
heater does.
~
The names of plants.
reading a book
and learning the names
of various grasses,
the texture of trees
and how to tell a flower
from another flower.
nothing much like close
to the beauty
of the pasture scene
spread before us
like marmalade
scraping over bread,
but I must admit,
begrudgingly,
it does give poems
some variety.