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.
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)