Julie Morrissy: "Kookee"

I’ve been wanting to take a bath

and stew

really lie there and let the thoughts run over me
in the murky water
as my hands crease and my nipples get cold
I’ve been wanting; 
not to cleanse but to consider
to get worked up in the hot water
to emerge renewed – and angry

I really beat up on some cookie dough today
battered it with a wooden spoon
historically I find them hard to hold
the rough unfinished handle
feels like some crusty piece of felt that was left to rot
but today
I wrapped my boney fingers around it
rammed its roundness into
some recipe from a bag
that’s so easy

“even my husband can do it”


Julie Morrissy is a poet from Dublin currently living in her home city after spending a number of years living in Canada and the USA. In 2015 she was shortlisted for the Melita Hume Poetry Prize in the UK, and selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series. Her work has been published widely in Ireland, the UK and Canada. Morrissy has performed readings at the Cork International Poetry Festival, Strokestown International Poetry Festival, the International Literature Festival Dublin, and on RTE Radio 1. Her debut poetry pamphlet I Am Where is published by Eyewear Press in the UK and is available to purchase through her website.

www.juliemorrissy.com