cricket

written by Chloe King. Chloe (she/her) is in her final year studying English with Creative Writing at UCD. She enjoys sunny beer gardens, rollies, and having a yap. Her short stories and poetry are inspired by her experiences in Dublin, and her love of strangers.

damp and heaving swaddled
in duvet
the
nightmare
flickers
like burnt film
across
eyes.

forced to
make
a decision
alone.
in silence.
hide
under
the blanket

clammy and still until
the first
sliver
of light
appears
or
brave
the hallway
and face
deep sea creatures of
witching
hours.

impulse
half asleep
prance
on
balls
of feet
don’t look
into depths
of other
rooms
those are things
you do not want to see.

dive
onto
shores
of your
mothers
bed
where
she
sleeps
alone.
her hair
a large nest
rotates
like an owls
to question
the disturbance.
“I had a nightmare.” sphinx
is satisfied,
sighs,
opens
the duvet.
waft of
hot air,
poof
of head
on pillow.

the clock ticks,
she snores softly,
rubs her feet
together
like a cricket.
harmless little thing creates a field
nightmares
can’t
breach.
when she wakes,
she will ask
about your
dream,
call it silly.
she will
watch
siblings
hyenas
bicker
and observe
at a distance.

she will
look
at you,
roll her eyes.
in years

s p a c e

between

mother

child

will be

desolate.

nothing can grow.
nothing
nothing
nothing.

resentment.

warn the child,
hold their hand.
when they
have a
nightmare
there’s
nowhere
to go.
they
stay
in
the
dark
with
the
rest
of
the
shadows.

the cricket,
ocean’s away,

moving their
feet to sleep.

Image: Study of a Man nr.2 by Laima Grasmane. Laima is a passionate textile artist who loves to express herself with bright colors, not only through fiber art but also through painting. She is inspired by Latvian culture and mentality, music and magic. In art, she pays attention to qualities such as joy of life and wit. Her main love is for tapestry, but she likes to create all sorts of textile art, like tufting, embroidery and knitting.