Tradeoffs

April 2022 | poetry

Especially in winter

everyone knows coyotes

are tempted by lapdogs – on leash or off –

as much as by rabbits or mice.

Their wild eyes glow white like stars

in their dark dens. No coyote pup grows up

with Grandma’s yarn Shih Tzu gracing

its duvet.  Or stays cute all its doggy years.

Better make yourself Big. Wave

your arms. Pretend to be wild

to protect little Gizmo who must

pretend to be human for you.

Paula Reed Nancarrow

Paula Reed Nancarrow is a Best of the Net- and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and winner of the Winter 2020 Sixfold Poetry Prize. Print publications include Sixfold, Artemis and Whistling Shade, with work forthcoming in Permafrost, Paterson Literary Review, The Avalon Literary Review, and Night Picnic. Find links to poems available online at paulareednancarrow.com.

DS Maolalai

April 2022 | poetry

The apple.

lightheaded, dizzy

and smoking

in the morning.

and I know

you don’t like

when I do this

so early, so I go

somewhere else

while I do.

bring my first

cup of coffee, my phone

or a book. and you come in;

you don’t mind – talk about

the coming workday

and ask me

would I like

an apple

for breakfast

to go with the coffee,

the cigarette. and I do;

not because

I want the apple

but I want you

to come back here

and to hear you

saying

more things

while you bring it to me.

Seeing the moon in daylight

it’s not uncommon,

but still is a thing

you might note. like birdsong.

a rock – the right rock reaching out

to your hand from a riverbed.

white rim asplinter;

a piece of white eggshell, sinking

so deep into blue. listen –

we were walking together.

the moon was there.

over the city. july

and the 5pm blue.

like pulling a rock

out of water –

the smooth feeling:

fingertip cold.

sometimes they reach

when you see them.

when they do

you do too – look at them.

put them in your pocket.

DS Maolalai

DS Maolalai has been nominated nine times for Best of the Net and seven times for the Pushcart Prize. He has released two collections, “Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden” (Encircle Press, 2016) and “Sad Havoc Among the Birds” (Turas Press, 2019). His third collection, “Noble Rot” is scheduled for release in April 2022.