The copper of bones

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). "The copper of bones" is in Short Circuit #06, Short Édition's quarterly review.

trying my hand
again at Selby Jr.
in my comfortable
apartment
with a balcony
in the Dublin
northside. Last Exit
doesn't work now
and neither does
Requiem. I first
came across them
in elbowish rooms
in Toronto and the north
end of London. something
of the copper
of bones here,
I thought. something
of life—a toilet
by the stove
and four feet
from the bedclothes. and art
needs discomfort
to appreciate
properly. Selby
doesn't function
when the water
heater does.

© Short Édition - All Rights Reserved

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