“Horseshoes.” by DS Maolalai

somewhere up here 

you might bite the whole horizon. 

love pours in

like an emptied sack of apples. tastes fresh 

like apples, and smells 

like apples too. 

I am on the sofa

fiddling with a poem

and she, for a change,

is trying out painting. working a canvas

with brushes and cheap oils

which I bought 

but so far haven’t used.

she shows me her picture;

it’s a skyline – yellow

at the base and rising 

darkness. I look at her, love like hummingbirds

buzzing flowers. love 

like horseshoes, falling from open doors. the sofa

might as well be mountaintop. I can’t be honest – don’t know

if it’s good. everything she does

looks good to me. from up here

you might bite the whole horizon.


DS Maolalai has been nominated four times for Best of the Net and three 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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