Collette Nic Aodha

Unusual Dice
Collette nic Aodha

The shade of morning slightly lifted,
its light through pylon mesh is flesh in fishnets.

Your last kiss left me jelly-
bales of silage, their black wrapped, white x-ed

cubes are unusual dice-
The game of us.

A phone call would pre-empt your next move
but perhaps your touch was bluff.

Poker straight, I conceal my hand,
this knave having being dealt

one too many half-hearts
in her last match.

Colette Nic Aodha 's poetry collections are Baill Seirce (Baile Átha Cliath, Coiscéim, 1998); Faoi Chrann Cnó Capaill (Coiscéim, 2000); and Gallúnach-Ar-Rópa (Coiscéim, 2003). Her short stories are collected as Ádh Mór (Coiscéim, 2004). Sundial, published by Arlen House in September 2005, is her first collection of poetry in English and has been ten years brewing. She edited an anthology of her students poetry, Pailéad an tSaoil/ Palette of Life, 2006. Her next collection, Between Curses/Bainne Géir, a dual language collection will be published in September 2006 by Arlen House.