The Warm Afterlife

{By Clodagh Healy}

Artwork by Hanna Biju. Her profile is available in the Art & Photography section.

‘This bag is made from 100% Recycled Plastic.’
So, is this its afterlife then?
Placed in the kitchen cupboard beneath the sink
with the sprouting potatoes
listening to your tentative talk of the future

Talk of the future?

Well on Monday mornings I often think about jumping
into the recycling bin
right after the milk carton
so I could cocoon
yah know, marinate for a week
only to blossom into an Aldi or even a bougie M&S bag
and sleep warm with the potatoes.

Modern Day Flowers

{By Clodagh Healy}

I had run out of toilet paper but
before I realised
you had bought me more
Ultra-quilted.
Luxurious layers.
Three-ply, the good shit.

Memento Vitae

{By Clodagh Healy}

My grandmother the time traveller
sat in a room full of dead photographs and talked them alive
coloured in forgotten memories
bathwater beach days
sand sandwiches
she polished the rust off of old scandals
and entertained us with their ghosts.

Then one morning the priest came and
placed her into the shoebox
glassy and unmoving she lay among the photographs
waiting for my mother’s voice
to breathe life into her once again.

Clodagh Healy

Clodagh Healy is a fourth-year creative writing student from Kerry. Her poetry focuses on themes relating to Irish life, both contemporary and ancient. Her poetry is driven by the want to capture the heartache and humor everyday life brings.