day to night

by Catherine O’Brien

To say the rain clouds had a cotton candy center

that wasn’t hearsay – it was a solid fact.

What are you scared of? they used to say

Consider it tickled pink and tinged with violet

make it experience a spontaneous paroxysm of laughter

treat it to the unexpected beauty of a grocery store saxophone

marvel how it expands itself into the interlude

hear its existential sigh. 

Night isn’t everything that you fear

For a start, its dorsal markings are that mood board

you wish you had bought but you thought yourself rich. 

It is crackling moments of clarity that are a chiropractor’s sturdiest dream.

Though gentle in flight like a paper-based ornithopter.  

Catherine O’Brien is an Irish writer of poems, flash fiction, and short stories. She writes bi-lingually in English and Irish. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Orbis Quarterly International Literary Journal, Reflex Press, Ink Sweat &Tears, Ellipsis Zine, Tiny Molecules, Gone Lawn, Bending Genres, Books Ireland, Splonk, Flash Boulevard, Janus Literary & more. Her poem ‘Embezzled Emotion’ published in Janus Literary received a 2023 Best of the Net nomination. You can find her on Twitter @abairrud2021.