BY: DS Maolalai

before storms strike
at the mountains south of Dublin,
the mountains south of Dublin
come in clear
and so close
that you could touch them
if you wanted to,
like reaching in a river
and scraping slime
from rocks. here
we are sunk up
in green all over—carrying on
up Camden St
you can still look up
and remember
that there’s forest
everywhere. sometimes,
especially,
you can even
pick out houses, and the white gleam
of wind turbines. but around
it’s dirty brick, metal
and car exhausts. Dublin—
a plate of salad
which slips
and shatters on the patio
when the weather suits
for dinner in the garden. 

DS Maolalai has been nominated four times for Best of the Net and three 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).