by DS Maolalai

o the piper,
that odious piper
who plays
his ratrotten tune.

where is the stream that is running
which music will finally ignore? I
am ignorant of even
the very
best music.

I am the snare
posing for prey.
fallon’s in paris now. aodhan’s in london
and I am here
looking at the leaks
in the porthole;
plugging them with dirty
toilet paper.

I am walking toward a cliff,
following my nose
like rats
streaming to the sea.
short trousers on me
and short cotton sleeves.

if I could stop
writing poems
I would do that.

---

DS Maolalai has been described by one editor as “a cosmopolitan poet” and another as “prolific, bordering on incontinent”. His work has been nominated twelve times for BOTN, ten for the Pushcart and once for the Forward Prize, and released in three collections; “Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden” (Encircle Press, 2016), “Sad Havoc Among the Birds” (Turas Press, 2019) and “Noble Rot” (Turas Press, 2022)