Here are two (of four) new poems that will appear in EYE SOCKET JOURNAL early in 2013.

Walking to Mass

Granny’s aching worry,
I was clueless.
She’s hobbling, a halting beach ball on the sea.

Following her to Communion,
my soul black liquorice that stained my teeth,
I smell her musty clothes,
masked by make-up living in a compact
in her top drawer, sliding back and forward,
with powder glazed Co-op coupons.
My fingers still across the surface.

I want her to tell me secrets. Dead forty years,
there’s still time, give me clues. It’s not too late.

Tom Kelly
Eye Socket Journal, spring 2013

By the Fire

The poker turns lily-white at its tip,
we dream until our knees melt,
praying before the holy fire.

Granny’s hair crinkles into kiss curls
she hates. She imagines anything
as she watches life fall away from her.

The Sacred Heart flames in the golden fire,
grey coal clouds darken the mood,
she searches for a life apart from this.

Tom Kelly
Eye Socket Journal, spring 2013
http://eyesocketjournal.blogspot.co.uk/