{"id":3745,"date":"2019-05-14T00:51:11","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T00:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=3745"},"modified":"2019-05-14T00:51:11","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T00:51:11","slug":"the-house-in-leitrim-by-ds-maolalai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/the-house-in-leitrim-by-ds-maolalai\/","title":{"rendered":"The house in Leitrim by DS Maolalai"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The House in Leitrim<\/p>\n

by DS Maolalai<\/p>\n

the wet clay
\npeeled
\nwith sucking sounds
\nstraight
\nfrom the spade. I was eight.
\nmy father dug,
\nwanting to show
\nthat he could bend the world
\nto city hands. the house
\nhad been
\na long time
\nunoccupied
\nbefore we took it; trees grew in the kitchen
\nand the plaster walls would crumble
\nto even my
\nweak touch.<\/p>\n

they’d got it cheap,
\nmy parents,
\nand intended
\neventually
\nthat it would be broken
\nlike a dog
\nand forced to piss
\noutside. there were spiders
\nliving in every corner
\nand a long war
\nwas waged against the mice
\nand the rabbits on the hill.
\nas a fire escape
\nheavy stones
\nwere placed on each windowsill
\nand the paint was done
\nto keep the damp out of the woodwork
\nand seal the place
\nfor visitors.<\/p>\n

but bad Irish weather
\nfell down
\nand crushed minds
\nlike the top of a the mountain behind us.
\nit engulfed the place
\nlike frogspawn
\nclumping on rocks.
\npride lost;
\nI don’t know
\nthe last time
\nanyone
\nhas bothered to visit.<\/p>\n

DS Maolalai has been nominated for Best of the Web and twice for the Pushcart Prize. His first collection, “Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden”, was published in 2016 by the Encircle Press, with “Sad Havoc Among the Birds” forthcoming from Turas Press in 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The House in Leitrim by DS Maolalai the wet clay peeled with sucking sounds straight from the spade. I was eight. my father dug, wanting to show that he could bend the world to city hands. the house had been a long time unoccupied before we took it; trees grew in the kitchen and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[413],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-poems"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t