a pigeon - ds maolalai

one leg is a bitten 

down chaw of tobacco

and the feathers a mess,

much as one might pull 

from a drain; a cracked

open teabag and sweating

grey mulch of washed

vegetable. a limping

thin, unrainbowed 

oilslick on tar, used cotton

and wild chicken 

eye-open guile – 

there is one in a carpark

now pecking at stones. investigating

crisp packets. seeming sick

and completely at ease. 

if I could be an animal

I'd ask to be a pigeon

or another invincible 

thing made of steel.

DS Maolalai has been described by one editor as "a cosmopolitan poet" and another as "prolific, bordering on incontinent". His work has nominated twelve times for Best of the Net, ten for the Pushcart and once for the Forward Prize, and has been released in three collections; "Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden" (Encircle Press, 2016), "Sad Havoc Among the Birds" (Turas Press, 2019) and “Noble Rot” (Turas Press, 2022)