I'd Kill a Goldfish Easier by DS Maolalaí

through my kitchen

come clouds;

crazy talk

and poison. lately

I picked up a book

from the bookshelf

which I haven't read

in 8 years or more

but still have carried

from apartment

to apartment, sometimes

leaving plates

and cooking pots behind. books;

tough things

to throw away. you'd kill a goldfish

easier

than tossing out a decent novel,

or a bad one even

sometimes.

I think, too,

that most of us would,

even those

who don't read much. and

what is it

makes that strange sensation?

they contain

words

and are the only things

which do,

aside from people.

---

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)