Late in July

Cover art by Irina Tall

they’ve gotten the garden

heater working. it’s late in july –

in the hedges the wrens

are getting restless.

cats patrol and the air

is a pollinated pinkish

like the residue tipped

from a pill organiser.

my mother is out,

sitting with a friend,

cackling and opening

the next bottle of wine.

she never drank much

when she was younger. never

in front of the kids.

now she’s catching up

on us. the old neighbourhood

is thick with retirement

and laughs rise occasionally

between propped-up back

garden brick walls painted ivy

like nesting seabirds

from the dry seagrass stretch

between that small golf

course and the beachfront

on dollymount strand.

Author

DS Maolalai

DS Maolalai has been described by one editor as "a cosmopolitan poet" and another as "prolific, bordering on incontinent." His work has nominated eleven times for Best of the Net, eight for the Pushcart Prize 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).
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