the next day,
i ate nothing at all:
i just curled up in a sunny
corner of the veranda & waited
—when my saliva had thickened
to a pearly gloop, i probed it out
from under my tongue: slowly, slow
-ly allowing it to dry as it met the air:
to form a thread that drifted almost
invisible against the early afternoon
sun & starting at the very backs of my
heels i slowly wove those soft billowy
folds around and around from sole
to crown, a semi-translucent worm
-like pouch: i am in here now, warm
& cushioned from outside sounds,
my skin softening within its silken
sheath, cells melding: all of the
holding in me seeping away
until one day when the
world has settled
back on its axis
and the time
is right to re
-emerge.

(Awarded 3rd Prize in the Poetry Day Ireland Competition 2020 in aid of Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, with support from Poetry Ireland and the Research Institute.)