by DS Maolalai
none of us could tell
why he'd ever gotten married.
he talked of life constantly,
and especially single life,
with the relish of a man
peeling the wax paper
from a steaming and grease-
dripping hamburger.
he talked about cocaine—
how he dearly missed
cocaine. and girls—how he missed
the girls so much.
it was impressive,
if rhetoric interests you,
how he quickly turned
wheels about topics,
and we felt odd
when he met us
for lunch—asked how his wife
was doing. and she was doing
fine. and the kids. and did you see
how tina’s dressing? and did you see
how sheera looks?
DS Maolalai has been described by one editor as “a cosmopolitan poet” and another as “prolific, bordering on incontinent.” His work has been nominated twelve times for BOTN, ten 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).
Little Leaf Literary Journal 