if you hold some in your mouth
for more than 5 minutes
the reaction which occurs
between your saliva and the starch
will produce sugar
and cause them to become sweet as apples.
hence the French.
from there
it is simply a matter of distillation
to produce poitin,
Irish potato vodka,
strong as dogteeth
and French coffee
and traditionally hidden in plastic bottles
and abandoned under floorboards until it is time to be drunk.
cut in two
and carved, a potato makes
a convenient stamping tool for children
and pulled out of the earth
they can be made to last months.
freeze-dried
they were discovered still edible
when archaeologists opened Inca caves
untouched by humans in almost 1000 years.
you can write poems about them
and cold
with mayo and scallions
they make a pretty good side salad.
DS Maolalai was born in Ireland and currently lives in Toronto, where he works maintenance for a hospital and drinks wine. His first collection of poems, Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden was published by the Encircle Press in 2016. He has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.