DS Maolalai
Cleared ground
this is leitrim. on the side
of a mountain. this is me,
learning how to drive. I'm 15;
giddy nervous, knuckling the steering wheel,
the gearstick and handbrake.
next to me, my father
gets frustrated
while I cut out again. around,
trees are everywhere, taller
than the mountain they grow on.
they are pine; we are in a timber
plantation. and we go jerky
past unused machinery
and bewildered deer,
rotten pools of water
where tadpoles
sprout legs. overhead
a skein of mallard ducks
hums like a running engine. finally
I get the bite
and push us forward.
ahead is empty ground,
blasted black
and dead
of a mountain. this is me,
learning how to drive. I'm 15;
giddy nervous, knuckling the steering wheel,
the gearstick and handbrake.
next to me, my father
gets frustrated
while I cut out again. around,
trees are everywhere, taller
than the mountain they grow on.
they are pine; we are in a timber
plantation. and we go jerky
past unused machinery
and bewildered deer,
rotten pools of water
where tadpoles
sprout legs. overhead
a skein of mallard ducks
hums like a running engine. finally
I get the bite
and push us forward.
ahead is empty ground,
blasted black
and dead
Biography
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DS Maolalai (he/him) has been nominated four times for Best of the Net and twice 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). He may be found on Twitter @diarmo1990
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