I do the school run when darkness fingers the light-
gently giving two to the idea there will be any sun today.
That grey half light forgives my no make up face
and those tiny pink purple veins around my nose,
inherited from my mother.
My black coat touches off bare ankles,
sock less inside walking shoes, and forgives my saggy breasts.
Bra-less, they sit on a stomach that should be smaller.
I always wear earrings to look more put together
than I actually am.
This morning, I did the school run like this, in my pyjamas.
And came home to you, a visitor in my house, in my kitchen, in your pyjamas.
And instead of yelling “be with you in a minute”
and running to change, I kicked off those shoes
and stood barefoot on my unwashed floors.
I unzipped my coat without a thought for my forty-something body
and wondered how many times we’d done this before?
Even though this was a first.
Aisling Keogh is a psychotherapist and a stay at home mother to three young children. Her short stories have been published with The Irish Independent, Crannog Magazine, Wordlegs, Ropes, Bangor Literary Journal, A New Ulster, and “Story Cities” an anthology published by Arachne Press, in June of 2019. Her first published short story, “How to Save a Life,” was shortlisted for the Hennessy Irish Literary Awards 2011. In 2018, Aisling finished writing her first novel, which she is currently submitting to agents, and in January 2019, she was shortlisted for the Doolin Writer’s Weekend Short Story Competition. In her free time Aisling likes to write and sing.
Image via Pixabay
The Cabinet of Heed 