Paper Cut

I've just noticed it now.
This lonely incision and its
tight red linear print.
This mark of discretion which
is too close to the bone,
which didn't even hurt at first.
At first.

See how it takes me by surprise,
this sudden need to pry
between the curtains,
to prod the rites of passage
with my teeth.
Compulsion. Blood thirst.
Call it what you will.

I want to know what's down there.

Love

You taught me how to pronounce it.
The letters wide and round, vowels like gobstoppers.
My mouth left taut, cracked, dry, aching with the tedium
of an about-to-burst balloon.

Stalemate

I am tired of this framework between us:
clean white dialogue and appointments for company.
These words like cutlery in our hands.

I'm tired of the pieces of mind that stick in my throat.
Our lives in instalments of logic
and interviews for the truth.

I'm tired of the void in the pause that is the difference between
silence and peace. The occasional stab of laughter.
The animal in the trap.

^

Biography

Laura O'Driscoll was born in Dublin in November 1980. She was educated at Presentation Secondary School, Terenure, and she graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2002 with a B.A. in English Literature and History. She has recently completed her Higher Diploma in Education at Trinity College and looks forward to embarking on her teaching career. Laura has been writing poetry since she was eight years old and has finally plucked up the courage to submit her poems for the scrutiny of a public audience!