the city looks best
in the orange
blue moonlight. night
comes, and evening also; twilight
falling salt
with the crispness and layering
of freshly washed bed sheets.
and lights rise, burning
steadily above you
and flashing below
in the unbroken
movement of slow rivers,
which are calm
though slightly rippled,
like flattened out
sandwich foil.
you step outside
to fewer cars than usual
and no pedestrians.
feel that last of winter
as it reaches out
past February,
puts its fingers
in your collar and pulls back.
D.S. Maolalaí has been nominated four times for Best of the Net and three 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).
Sparks of Calliope 