‘One’ by Kate Quigley

Someday
one will crawl from your depths,

saying,
‘woman,

I have seen
the centre of the earth’,

& he will hold your eyes
in his mouth,

scoping out those
particular hollows

of your pupils,
the slick heat of his teeth,

his mandarin-flavoured breath
branded hard to your optic nerve,

& he will quote back to you
your murk,

quote back to you
the salt

from your own secluded sea.

From issue #1: autumn/winter 2015

About the Author
Kate Quigley’s work has appeared in a number of Irish and UK journals including The Stinging Fly, The SHOp, The Moth and Orbis. She is one of the co-founders of Flying South, a mental health-themed open mic night/artists’ collective.