people don't know
how to talk
to each other.
on paper, at least,
all dialogue false.
so where the stumbles?
the false starts; sentences
which crawl over each other
like rats in an empty
street around a pizza box?
perhaps words
were not the medium
for this thing
I want to say.
DS Maolalai has been nominated nine 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)