Here is the opening of Poor Woman which features in issue 24 of Dreamcatcher and has just been published.
http://www.dreamcatchermagazine.co.uk/page132.aspx

POOR WOMAN

I keep the blinds drawn because they look in and steal me. The

world’s evil, creeping in the back door, staining the carpet, clattering up the

stairs, throwing bed clothes on the floor, leaving filth on walls, upsetting rooms

and filling the toilet with vileness, that’s why the blinds are shut. I must save my

son from this, from the rubbish that pulses through my letter box. I burn it and

then collect the black ash and bury it away from our house, it’s the only way

of knowing that it is truly dead, that the words cannot cause any more harm.

That they won’t wake in the night, crawl in and strangle my son.

I love to see the light floating through the blinds; its God’s light shining,

saving us from the blackness that tries to engulf us. I have fallen in the

world and I cried and cried until I had to close my eyes, and they said, “Open

your eyes and see your son” and my son had a golden light around him and he

looked like Christ. My son is my saviour.

If I move all the time my son will be fine at school. His teachers must be

checked. I want a tape recording of their lessons. I want a video of each day. I

want to examine the toilets for graffiti. I want the syllabus changed. I want

more, not less religious study. I want all books checked for profanity.

I hate television and radio. They throw acid into our children’s minds.

I got rid of our television and radio. I wrapped them in brown paper

so they couldn’t contaminate our house, their cold metallic eyes care for no-one.

They utter nothing I want.

Tom Kelly