A small house in east wall

helping a friend with a bed out

the door of their rental. the van

parked in rain on the corner. their home

like ants with a grasshopper

being taken to bits. biking

the quayside and toward a small

house out in eastwall. all pieces about,

and leaned on in corners,

of their lives (I don’t see them often

since they moved out to here). a garden

as messy as a turned over

pizzabox – beautiful to leave

when you leave. they are selling

the bed and have promised

delivery – it's the bit they need help with

and I didn't have much on today.

we walk it together – me and kevin

the legs on a donkey;

clumsy and scratchpaint

but getting it done. I'm all wet – the rainstorm

began on my short cycle

over. we move, then have tea

with what's left of the half-soured milk.

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DS Maolalai has been described by one editor as "a cosmopolitan poet" and another as "prolific, bordering on incontinent". His work has been nominated twelve times for BOTN, ten for the Pushcart and once for the Forward Prize, and 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).