Valencia oranges.
you’re in valencia
(that’s in spain,
not kerry)
just walking
to try some new streets.
you like cities
better than the countryside
but you just want to
go walking here,
you’re not here to see
castles
or any museums.
in this a street.
there is traffic.
the cars
are older
than you’re used to,
burping up a smog
which burns
in the fine
hot air.
on the roadside
the trees
are all oranges,
good and ripe
as if the sky
were sprouting suns this summer.
you reach up,
take one,
pull
and bite in.
it’s so acid
it stings you.
your lips blister. the city
is still a city
and this fruit
inhales nothing but poison
every day.
it doesn’t have to conform
to your romantic
notions
of a stroll
on holiday.
and these people walking with you?
they’re going to work,
chief.
would you eat blackberries
you picked
on the naas road?
White and whipping shine.
the snow came down
like a dog over sand dunes,
surprising
but not unwelcome at first,
not until
it won’t go away
and ruins your picnic.
it was dublin – we
are not equipped for this weather.
roads closed down
and flights were canceled.
the streets
looked like candy
and the top of a christmas cake,
but this was springtime – lambs
were coming out of sheep,
more white
to add
to the blasted white and whipping shine.
I was fresh back from canada
and it was no novelty to me.
leaving the snow
and coming
to more snow
in a city without snowplows. made me appreciate
toronto,
I can tell you that.
the snow
came down,
cold hard as tabletops,
wet wind rising
and sending the trees to infancy.
as the temperature plunged
the govt issued an official warning:
NOBODY TO BE OUTSIDE
BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 1500 AND 0900
ALL BUSINESSES CLOSED.
the bars did a roaring trade –
nobody could drive
anyway
and there was something outside
to be talked about.
DS Maolalai recently returned to Ireland after four years away, now spending his days working maintenance dispatch for a bank and his nights looking out the window and wishing he had a view. His first collection, Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden, was published in 2016 by the Encircle Press. He has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
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