DS Maolalai


Good Novel Country


the trouble
you begin to realise
is the climate. here
it's too wet
for real poetry.
good novel country, sure. good country
for sitting indoors
sat at a table
and spending a long time
thinking
about things people do
and the ways in which they do them.
good country for modernism.
good for time
spent killing time.

someone said: everyone in toronto is in a band; everyone in london
is a photographer; everyone in san francisco
developing an app; everyone
in dublin writing a novel. maybe we like
long stories that keep us
indoors. long stories
that keep us from drinking.

I was born
for countries you go outside in. I was born
to wander empty beaches
and play patience on the porch. I was born
full of sick longings
that never panned out
and dreams of looking romantic
sunburned under bridges,
and a hot sun on the skyline
while driving in high gear.
I was born
to be born
somewhere people go on holiday.
fuck the filthy luck
that dumped me
here.




DS Maolalai recently returned to Ireland after four years away, now spending his days working maintenance dispatch for a bank and his nights looking out the window and wishing he had a view. His first collection, Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden, was published in 2016 by the Encircle Press. He has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.


1 comment:

  1. I just really like D.S. Maolalai's poems. Enjoyed this as I have done all the others. Never read a poor one yet and it reminds me what my kind of poetry is, despite my having to bend stylistically on occasions to fit into various magazines. John Short.

    ReplyDelete


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