1 a.m. - work tomorrow. By DS Maolalai

driven from sleep
by the dog
and your snoring,
I lie on the sofa
under thin
musty sheets. my legs 
jut like rockpiles
poking out 
over water. outside 
cars are crashing
into railings
and the sea. 
there are sirens,
building sounds
and rotations 
of helicopters. a girl
yells a quite
distinct curse word
at someone. a man yells,
more loudly
and angry. 


DS Maolalai is a graduate of English Literature from Trinity College in Dublin and recently returned there after four years abroad in the UK and Canada. He has been writing poetry and short fiction for the past five or six years with some success. His writing has appeared in such publications as 4'33', Strange Bounce and Bong is Bard, Down in the Dirt Magazine, Out of Ours, The Eunoia Review, Kerouac's Dog, More Said Than Done, Star Tips, Myths Magazine, Ariadne's Thread, The Belleville Park Pages, Killing the Angel and Unrorean Broadsheet, by whom he was twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He has also had his work published in two collections; 'Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden' and 'Sad Havoc Among the Birds.'