The Picnic.
a hilltop. birds whirl
in white space around us,
scattering brown
like leaves in autumn.
but this is not
autumn, no this
is the spring
and the sky a clean
roast chicken colour, seasoned
with pepper and cracking
rock salt.
the birds have come back
to spend time again – fat geese
dropping like broken elevators,
swallows like ribbons,
sparrows on pavements
bouncing like yapping dogs.
in the phoenix park
on our hilltop
we sit together
to toast the evening
and the heat of the year
approaching. drinking wine,
we eat olives from plastic pots
and little squares of cheese
which we have to wipe
the grass off, gone sweaty
in our pockets with plastic wrappers,
too sweet and too sticky and not
very good.
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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