Two Poems (Dion O’Reilly)

Dion O'Reilly is the author of three poetry collections: Sadness of the Apex Predator, a finalist for the Steel Toe Book Prize and the Ex Ophidia Prize; Ghost Dogs, winner of the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, The Independent Press Award for Poetry, and Honorable Mention for the Eric Hoffer Poetry Award; and Limerence, a finalist for the John Pierce Chapbook Competition, forthcoming from Floating Bridge Press. Her work appears in The Sun, Rattle, Cincinnati Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, and Alaska Quarterly Review. She is a podcaster at The Hive Poetry Collective, leads poetry workshops, and is a reader for Catamaran Literary Reader. She splits her time between a ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains and a residence in Bellingham, Washington.

Both of these poems were inspired by the work of other poets. For “Because my Parents Were Godless,” it was “Flood Ghost” by Luke Johnson. The image of a mother praying—something my mother never did—resonated. That idea was haunting me when I met with my generative writing group. They had a list of twenty words they wanted to work with in a twenty-minute writing session. The only word in the list that remained after about thirty drafts was “God.” The final poem began halfway down the first draft, so the published version is approximately half as long as the one I wrote with the writing group.

“To my Daughter Regarding her Stepfather,” was inspired by “Something Sweet” by Hannah Lowe: “something sweet / with something bitter” ….  “I tucked away my numb heart in an ice-pack …where it felt cold and wet / and unforgettable.” This reminded me of my daughter and my ex-husband—how our relationship was part of intergenerational trauma, packed like ice in my heart.