Dom Conlon, poet & author

Author: Dom

  • Bentback—a spoken word poem

    I heard every word when I was nine: Bentback. Bentback. Look at him. Bentback. I heard every word when I was being bullied for having a back as twisted as a question mark. I heard every word and I stood and I said that soon I’ll have a spine of steel, that soon the doctors…

  • Leave The Light Off

    A Badtime Story Jacob grinned a fat cheeked, closed mouthed grin which gave him the look of a stitched doll. His twin, also named Jacob, nodded and clapped. “Keep it closed, little brother,” he said. “Keep it closed until the light goes off.” Wiping her hands upon a cloth, Nurse Mariam returned from the below…

  • Keep The Door Closed

    A Badtime Story The one time Nurse Mariam announced she was taking the night off, Jacob and Jacob gnawed at the tree root they had been given for supper and glanced at one another beneath the table. “I shall be back before winding time,” she said. “Cloister will put you to bed and you are…

  • Don’t Cry Out

    A Badtime Story ‘And both children were swallowed up whole and the ruby path was never seen again. The End.’ Nurse Mariam slammed the book shut, snapped to her feet and clicked her heels. ‘Now sleep well, both of you. And don’t cry out in the night.’ The elderly lady turned away, and then stopped…

  • Fish and Drift Ice and Steady

    “Well I won’t. And SHE can’t make me,” said Fish, coming to a standstill and turning to face Drift. They were stood by the roadside a few miles out from the town where Fish lived with her mum. She looked Drift up and down as though, now she had finally stopped moaning, she had noticed…

  • Staying Awake ‘Til Christmas Day

    There are a few hours left ’til Christmas Day, I wrapped each present I wrote each card so lying here is very hard but I’m staying awake. There’s an hour or two ’til Christmas Day I’ve left a drink and one mince pie so lying here just makes me sigh but I’m staying awake. There’s…

  • The Christemas Tree—a Christmas story

    a story from The Edge of Christmas “What if the magic of Christmas was really a curse?” HERE WILL NOT BE A FOURTH TIME, KING.” The music stopped. The dancers cooled their heels. Even the children hushed and stared at the willowy-white pole of a man as he stood raging at their leader. Only the…

  • Cosmic Turkeys

    Each Christmas day in Outer Space the Cosmic Turkeys hold a race. Around the Milky Way they run and gobble stars up just for fun. Like feathered leggy poultry cars, they zoom past Mercury and Mars. Then zipping past the asteroids they gurgle through their adenoids. It takes a while to run their course (and…

  • Fish and Drift Hide and Seek

    THE ARCTIC WIND SNATCHED Fish’s words from her mouth and laced them into its howl. “Ready or not.” Fish sighed and looked around. She had walked, well, Drifted really, so far North there wasn’t much to see. Just another snow-clad valley scooped out of the blue sky like a large bite from an ice cream.…

  • Is Grant McWishes a Meanie Genie?

    Grant McWishes, the local town genie has always been known as a terrible meanie Though genies are meant to make wishes come true. this one just seems to shout rudely at you. “WHADDYA NEED? WHADDYA SAY? WHADDYA WANT FROM ME TODAY?” When Grant McWishes appears in a flash the town dwellers all run off in…