wondering at marriage;
at what it’s really like
and what it does to you –

like: I know that I do love her
but will it dislocate
my bones? marriage – what then
is the piston? what engine
drives my father? who will I try
to impress? it must be like
a headcold – like giving up one
of your senses. now

it’s summer – I’m single – I walk
and see women – temptation
still blooms with the red
sweating stamin
of tropical flowers
year round the botanical
hothouse. and sometimes
wearing clothes which
fit close to their
bodies. and sometimes
not doing that and still.
but I love her –

it’s unfortunate, I really
do love her. and she doesn’t
read poems. and I’m fortunate
also in 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 fourteen times for BOTN, eleven 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).