Salt water to carving.

delicious / on sunday / afternoons.

Salt water to carving.
Photo by Claudio Schwarz / Unsplash

by DS Maolalai


your legs bending up
like a roasted and finely
spiced chicken
placed on a plate
with a steam of hot
grease. I am with
you in bed; we are
fucking, some grease
to our lips. through
our net curtains
the sun comes
with the warmth
of an opening
oven, and meat
runs salt water
to carving
on countertops –
delicious
on sunday
afternoons.


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).