Two Poems by DS Maolalai
I’m in love with Benedict Cumberbatch
I think I’m in love with Benedict
Cumberbatch she said at eight
thirty two in the morning
while I ate a sandwich of pilchards
and ketchup, and flicked
through this book of bad poems
left by her friend
from the party.that’s fine, I said, I’m in love
with B.
what? she said
I’m in love with B. I said, and I made sure to keep my tone
straight level.she brought out a knife and began slicing a lemon
she was believed in health and rest
and that death could be staved back
by squeezing fruit in boiling water
and I looked at her over the top of the poems
and watched as she cut carefully through dappled skin.
get out she said. get out of this house right now.
Opening.
the traffic slides steady
down streets as the teeth
of a zipper, repaired on an old
pair of jeans. goes up
and goes down.
catches and peels
off to corners and into
the evening;
the city, so lustfully,
opening.
About DS Maolalai
DS Maolalai has been nominated eleven times for Best of the Net, eight times for the Pushcart Prize, and once for the Forward Prize. His poetry has been released in three collections, most recently Sad Havoc Among the Birds (Turas Press, 2019) and Noble Rot (Turas Press, 2022).