Christina Hession from Dunmore, Co Galway, holds an MA in Creative Writing from UCC. She has been published in The Galway Review, Ropes, Vox Galvia, The Irish Independent, Boyne Berries and the Bangor Literary Journal.

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Nothing

(after the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes)

The mothers were always cleaning,
but it was a cold house

a home in name
only.

No rock-a-bye-baby
for the girl with wizened limbs,
who dares to eat porridge
with her fists,

or moss from the walls.

No love.
No care.
No toys.
No visitors.
Nothing whatsoever.

At the Dogs’ Home
in Battersea, ever dog barks
at the visitors
in the hope
that it will be taken away.