A Contributor's Copy by DS Maolalaí

a whole bunch of poems,

of course, about poets,

and lives lived through prisms

of poetry. I piece over pages

after work at my churned

kitchen table –

a contributor's copy

from an american

college post-grad.

short stories from people

whose lives would make boring

short stories. poets

flopped limply political, dangled

like apples from trees.

I don't have the soul

(I know that) of a poet.

my hatchet work juts

in the wood of an orchard;

a nail in a badly-

made fence.

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DS Maolalai has been nominated eight times for Best of the Net and five 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)