PUNK POETRY: They are taking down the halogens by DS Maolalai

They are taking down the halogens 

 

it's not about the line 

being beautiful, or true.  

sometimes it's just writing down the weather  

in cities we only know  

from poems and descriptions 

by friends. what else is tel aviv 

or buenos aires? it's what ray 

carver told me. and gui comes from 

sao paolo – people there 

are good photographers. new york 

is a place where the best  

weekends happened in my life – bags of trash 

on the street bursting open 

like fruit in an orchard and two girls 

in three nights – I still think of them sometimes. 

they are taking down the halogens 

in dublin over summer – the lights shine LED- 

white suddenly, rather than orange 

and salt. rainy pavements, one could say,  

have lost a certain style.  

what do poets care though – I can write 

old light in poetry. as if words 

were a refurbished vintage car  

being driven down an avenue; a parade 

or in a funeral procession. beautifully 

buffed and cared for. shining as my corolla  

never did on drives to work.  

--DS Maolalai