The sunset, young women
DS Maolalai
I step out. the street
faded tennis shoe
colour. a photo in an attic
to be looked at in 30 years'
time, when the fashions
have grown to throwback:
the sunset; young women
walk down it together –
the hip-swinging swagger
of confident cats. light comes
through plants swung
from balconies over
the liffey. and the patio
cafe, below the apartment.
and older man smokes,
slowly touching his gut up
with fingerprint-cold
pints of beer. as easy and smart
as a panda. relaxed as a lizard
over water on a sun-heated rock.
DS Maolalai has received eleven nominations for Best of the Net and seven for the Pushcart Prize. His poetry has been 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). You can find him on Twitter: @diarmo1990