The cartographer DSMaolalai

with the tips of my fingers and both of my thumbs I peel and de-seed half an orange.

the segments shape shatter – pull cleanly apart, like tendons from boiled bones in soup. I bite greedy handfuls, leave skin on the table which flattens and folds in the sun.

it’s pretty, it dries under sunlight and folds out. looking close and carefully as it moves in the heat you can see a rough sketch-map of portugal.

DS Maolalai is a graduate of English Literature from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland and, after some years abroad, currently lives in Dublin and and has been several times nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. His poetry has been released in three collections, Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden (Encircle Press, 2016) Sad Havoc Among the Birds (Turas Press, 2019), and Noble Rot (Turas Press, 2022).