for everyone except Alex
and he kept
repeatedly talking
like he was the only person
who would die there.
talked about improving
the processes, streamlining,
and getting the maintenance guys
really into line:
spent so much time
sitting in call centres, eating donuts
and coffee with cream,
that I watched
in my cruel amusement
as his chair legs
bent like trees
going in a fast weather.
weather: another thing
we didn’t see
in operations
listening to him talk.
I said
one day
in stormy weather
I’d go outside
and hold up my coat
spread like a parachute
and whip off away
on the wind.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 23, Issue 5.
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).
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