DS Maolalai is a poet from Ireland who has been writing and publishing poetry for almost 10 years. His first collection, Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden, was published in 2016 by the Encircle Press. He has been nominated for Best of the Web and twice for the Pushcart Prize.

The space.

the best thing
was driving cross-country
across
western canada
or at night through america
and seeing the space
and the fields
laid out
flat as a basketball court
bouncing the moon;
spread out with forests
and the highway
burning like a match.
over the mountains
between vancouver
and calgary
or on the bus
sleeping
from new york to chicago.
the land
was so wide; different
from ireland
where everything
is scrunched –
room,
finally
for cattle
to raise their heads
and hawks
to crash into grassland
without
their wings scraping galway
while their tails
are still sitting
on lampposts
in cork.

[image: Country road at night | Przemysław Wielicki]