Posthumous gift from an atheist daughter
I make her a box from a block of old cherry
found in the back room of a wood shop in Hackney.
Inside, I carve a Celtic cross, all sides equal:
copied from photos she sent of Iona.
My chisels skip compulsively
from amber knotwork to saturn oilstone
then under the lid they recess a cross
to precisely mirror and hold the other.
I sand till all roughness has switched to my fingers,
and slosh on the wax, buffing over and over.
The fit is so tight that the wave of the grain
on the side of the box is barely interrupted but
she dies as I sew a small purse of rum velvet
which, faded and dusty now, keeps her box perfect.
*Julia O'Brien has worked as a copy editor, juggler, woodcarver and mother (ongoing). She has an MA in Creative Writing & Personal Development from Sussex University.
('Posthumous gift from an atheist daughter' first published in The Frogmore Papers No.75, 2010)
