The Upright Position

She lifts up the carpets, one by one while humming an intensely disturbing lullaby.
Those around her sit in the upright position and veil their disquiet by concentrating on the ceiling beneath them.
No-one talks about the fact that they are becoming dizzy. The growing disorientation reminds each of them of being at sea
(even those within their number that have never left dry land.)
They fear for their lives, and for all of the broken up meanings that this word holds within its handful of letters.

Everything that was once upside down is now being bared.

They all begin to shiver in the evening's unadorned barrenness.


Kerri Ní Dochartaigh

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