Dom Conlon, poet & author

Category: Poems/Stories

  • Before The Bedbugs Bite

    A Badtime Story It was still light when Jacob and Jacob were lowered into their bed that evening. The curtains were in tatters from the events three nights previous, and the sun hung stubbornly outside the window like a sore which simply would not heal. “I can’t sleep with the sun staring at me that…

  • Wild Boar

    The angriest animal Is surely the boar Give it a prod And its temper will soar. But angrier still (And this is a warning) Is waking you up First thing in the morning. — Illustration courtesy and copyright of Jools Wilson. Thank you!

  • No Reading After Dark

    A Badtime Story Nurse Mariam’s voice rose like a bird of prey seeing a mouse after a week, no a month, of rib-dry hunger. “And all the bears and all the rabbits…” she preached. “And all the little boys and all the little girl…” Her cheek bones sharpened, her eyes widened, her pupils narrowed in…

  • 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…