What Then?

Published by Mary Kennelly at December 30, 2023

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What if I just concede that I will never be enough?
Never slim enough or svelte enough,
not tall enough or thin enough,
or pert enough or pretty enough.
What then?
What if I accept that I am, as you say, too much?
Too much of stomach and too much of sag,
too much of wrinkles, too much of scars,
too much of just being too much.
What then?
What if you just got on with your mockery?
Got on with breaking me under your scorn,
got on with declaring that someone so flawed
is unworthy of loving at all?
What then?
What then?
Answer me:
and what then?

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Mary Kennelly

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Her previous books include; ‘Sunny Spells, Scattered Showers’, Carroll R. & Kennelly M. Glenwood Press, 2004, ‘From the Stones’, Fitzmaurice B. & Kennelly M. Evensong Publications, 2010, ‘Catching Bats Takes Patience’, Kennelly M. Liberties Press, 2015, ‘Splinters’, Fitzmaurice B. & Kennelly M. Evensong Publications, 2017, ‘Into the Grey’, Kennelly M. Evensong Publications, 2022. Her work has appeared in several collections and anthologies and Mary has been published in newspapers, magazines and e-zines. She has edited several publications. She lives by the advice given by her grandfather, “Take it easy, and if you can’t take it easy, take it as easy as you can.”

You can find Mary on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and her website.