DS Maolalai
Talk of the soul from 22 year olds.
at a reading in cork. a lot
of talk of the soul
from 22 year olds,
all of whom have one
and want me to know.
I drink a pint – lager –
on an short-legged barstool
and listen to words ranked
which I don't believe
but which they do
and that's what's important.
I wrote like this once –
it's just something you do
when you're 20, getting up
to 24: the world has a shape
and you know it
and aren't self-conscious,
unfortunately self-serious.
like how your first girlfriend
becomes every woman
a while, and every tree
an oak tree. I don't really
hate it – there's something
in knowing, at that age,
or any, what it is,
and it isn't embarrassing.
it's trying at honesty,
not knowing what honesty is.
they'll do this a while,
then they'll stop, or keep writing
and move on to poems
about how silly they were
at 22. some will even puncture
their punchlines.
