My Inky Callus Hands

by Libby O’Connor

I raised my sword
-a simple quill!-
and poked each finger
until the ink did spill
upon the page,
I swirled the ink
and bent them to my will,
and from the words upon the page,
my inky callus did swell.

Category: Poetry, SNHU Creative Writing, SNHU online creative writing, SNHU Student

About the Author

Ever since she was young, Libby O’Connor possessed a love for books and reading. She would spend hours hiding in the library where her father worked until he came to collect her at the end of his shift. He would spend several minutes peering under shelves, until he eventually found her, curled up in a little nook with a stack of books. Although O’Connor nurtured a love for literature for most of her life, she gravitated towards art as a child. Throughout her academic career, O’Connor’s writing would frequently receive praise but she didn’t consider herself a ‘writer’ until after she pursued an A.S. degree in Digital Design in 2014. After graduating college, she inevitably decided that writing was an integral part of her and she decided to merge her passions for design and writing together to create children’s books. She enrolled in SNHU’s Creative Writing Program in 2016 to achieve her B.A. This her first publication. O’Connor hails from Connecticut and when she isn’t working at her local library, enjoys writing outdoors with her cat, Anubis, by her side.