VISITING
MY GRAND-MOTHER
…

the trees, 
blue as teeth,
bite the hills
to small pieces,
and the grass
melts like butter
being laid 
across toast. 

we are visiting
my grandmother. ‘97:
I'm six. sitting 
on the windowsill
of this damp
winter house,
with its plaster-cast
saints and its plaster-
flaked corners.
sky tipping darkness
like a poured cup
of tea. the moaning
of cows rolling in
through the windows;
they sound terrible,
and this morning

my uncle  
had me touch one; 
I hated it, and also
the taste 
of their milk.
it's different at home:
it's much colder
and fresher. 
here I am six
and the world
sitting inside 
a tennisball;
it is dark
and it smells
very musty.

MY HEART BREAKS ITS BACK IN AN OCEAN
…

my heart breaks its back 
in an ocean, and wriggles its flippers 
of feet. my heart feels no currents 
in motion; it knows 
no hope of landfall. oceans 

have terrified – grey depths,
a pressure and nothing inside them,
grey as steel on traintracks,
somewhere to stumble 
in crossing the road. 

this could be winter, 
grey as steel trees,
grey as dry days
and lifeless
grey footpaths.

my heart floats on something
like water – a chest
filled with emptiness,
pressing on guts
and the spine.

…

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)

+BOOKS +POETRY PRIZE +CONTACT

POETS IN MORSE CODE explores the role of interpretation in storytelling. By incorporating Morse Code, one of the most widely used and recognized ciphers in existence, Saiterux juxtaposes lines of poetry against photographs and technical illustrations of flora & fauna from the early days of scientific exploration. Through the text and image pairings, the illustrations lean into the abstract elements of a story, recognizing that storytelling depends on the written word as well as the imagination, experiences, and knowledge each reader brings to the occasion. More from Saiterux