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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. 

Sean Ewing Crimson_Elegance.jpg

THE COURTSHIP OF WINDS

© 2015 by William Ray

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