*

Bedsheets in the blue

I tossed my sheets into the ocean

when you left

this time

 

I heard you insist

it was I

who was leaving

I

who went seeking

out

the        sky

above

the        water

as my bedroom.

 

Grain, or grandeur?

Gibbous names

for a need

for the waves

and new places to sleep.

 

Did you think we might keep

churning sheets

and our fortunes

into rolling, silver, drum,

while the moon

and her son

tossed my pulse

in our blankets?

and I,

in my anguish,

yearned to grey,

for the sands

washed away

by the depths

of our safety?

Loved on(c)e,

lately

This

detergent

on my palms

has been leaving

hands itching

You pass me

More sterile boxed powders

neat stitching

 

and leave me

 

with no

stay

or no

go

 

The only way I know

Is this

bright splay

of bed sheets in the blue

Giving up on the gone

casting out for the new and

sucking

this

crisp

fabric

 

dimpled.

Nursing sea-salt

from the threads that we pulled tight

to hold six skies

together.

*

Biography

Jennifer O’Kelly is an Irish poet originally from Cork. She holds a Masters degree in Philosophy and is interested in the work of Patti Smith and Leonard Cohen, among many others.