Dom Conlon, poet & author

Author: Dom

  • The Magician

    I made my parents disappear, And did not cry a single tear. When at first I missed my dinner All I got was slightly thinner. But now it’s time for cake and tea I wish I had them here with me. — Illustration courtesy and copyright Jools Wilson. See Jools’ work here.

  • The Chain Witch

    A Story from The Witch Cord 1. These weren’t the best of times to be meeting in secret. The harvest was in and the line between day and dark was drawn tight as a thread. But best not say that. Tight as a thread meant knots, and knots was what had caused Hilda all that…

  • How the SCBWI Conference blew my MIND!

    Conferences are dull, dry affairs. They are full of serious looking business people reading through lists of statistics and urging you to work harder, network better, wheel and deal more efficiently. See Whitmore over there, someone says. You nod, nervously, unsure whether the question is a trick one or not. Well just between you and…

  • The Stitch Witch

    A story from The Witch Cord Private Teddy Francis, 47th regiment, was the first to be fixed. The fighting had taken its share of young men along the Black Sea but Teddy Francis was, thankfully or otherwise, not among its number. The price extracted from him was sorely given nonetheless. His right leg had been…

  • The Grudge—a nonsense poem

    I once held a Grudge but it ran away. I’ll never forget that miserable day. —

  • The Scout Witch

    A story from The Witch Cord That night brought something out of Henry Sampson, and there weren’t a one of us what wasn’t surprised. Though it were thirty-five years ago, and though I’m the only one to remember him now, it don’t change the fact he was the about the wisest, kindest Cub Scout Leader…

  • Three nonsense poems from the wild

    1. If you herd a buffalo don’t stop to say hello, just run away and shout ahoy! it’s time to flamingo. 2. So wildebeest, or won’tdebeest Serengetit on his own? And if he does then would you stay to throw another bone? 3. How many elephants can we fit upon a continental shelf? One more,…

  • A Domboid—a maths poem

    I am that shape we never learned in school, with all the angles of uncertainty jutting out as though a child had missed a lesson early on but kept on drawing nonetheless. Why not start again, a teacher might have said, but I kept me hidden, a mess of lines sagging into an old man’s…

  • The Wild Photographer

    Do you see that creature by the river just there, His glassy eye glinting in the cold morning air? He’s waiting and watching for when you might pause, Then quick as a fish he’ll go SNAP with his jaws. —

  • A Typical Day Out With You

    Why did you stop when I said walk? Why did you shout when I said talk? Why did you go and be so rude? Why did you snatch away that food? Why did you snarl and sneer and stare? Why did you put your hand in there? Why did you open that closed door? Why…