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What Then?

Published by Mary Kennelly at December 30, 2023
Categories
  • Poetry
Tags
  • loved
  • Mary Kennelly
  • new beginnings
  • poetry
  • scorn flawed
  • stomach mockery
  • wrinkles
woman in mirror

Image created onCanva

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?


Looking for more to read? Check these out from the MockingOwl contributors and authors.

  • The Leaf
  • I Guess No One Has a Phone in Heaven
  • My Raging War
Mary Kennelly
+ postsBio

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.

  • Mary Kennelly
    She Stole My Stars…
  • Mary Kennelly
    Sharp Edges

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3 Comments

  1. Secret Garden: Poetry Corner at the MockingOwl Roost says:
    January 16, 2024 at 10:46 am

    […] What Then? […]

    Reply
  2. Poetry Special #1 - 2024 - the MockingOwl Roost says:
    March 21, 2024 at 2:02 am

    […] What Then? […]

    Reply
  3. Domestic Violence Awareness Special Issue 2024 says:
    January 2, 2025 at 10:46 am

    […] What Then? – Poetry […]

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