Deirdre Daly

Deirdre Daly lives and teaches in Dublin, Ireland. She studied English Literature in University College Dublin. She is currently working on her first collection of poems.

 

Driftwood

On her granular bed, she lies petrified

belly swollen, arms stiffened in surrender.

Lulled by the listless sea, her pride

swept away by the crying of gulls.

 

So far from where she started, cracked

bones splinter in the midday sun.

Sinuous strata swirl, veins slacked

with tarry oil and old faults unspoken.

 

The sunken twilight glass refracts

the sculpted beauty of her wrack,

Her brittle gaze holds amidst the fall

of sand dunes and these bedroom walls.

 

Girl, Reading

My love sings soft in September sun.

In the orchard she sits, head askance, strands stirring.

Amongst whispering grass and boughs full heavy,

apple cheeks puffed and blushed.

 

Pages spindle, words tumble, to the gentle thud

of heels on wood. Leaves scatter sunlight in her hair.

Eyelids flutter, slowly she sighs, to a low-key lullaby.

Dreams unfold in the sweet autumn air.

 

© 2018 Deirdre Daly