i.
Writing down bad quotes and putting them all around me. Oversharing with friends, not caring how it affects them. Eating far too much hummus. People who do not do what they say they will do. You, maybe. Thinking trees hold up the sky. Clementines that don’t peel in one clean skin. Garlic sticks under my fingernails; I breathe in deeply. Gag. Photo albums that show a non-sequitur life of sports days and lost teeth. Being scared of what I do. Waking up and not knowing what to do with my day. Phone calls answered on the first rings. Ignoring phone calls until they ring out. You, maybe. Doomscrolling for so long I forget how to read. My brain turning gooey. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It was the sun coming up at the afters. Losing my breath in the ocean. Losing my breath on the bus. Losing my breath again. Wishing you’d got it right the first time. Getting it wrong the first time. Getting it wrong again. Finally going to therapy, for real this time. Not letting the bad voice win. Knowing you can be better. Being sixteen and then seventeen. The world continuing to turn. Leaving a party at the exact right time. Setting paper on fire and watching it blacken and crumble. Letting go. Knowing what I need, unable to just leave it alone. You, maybe.
ii.
Writing quotes and putting them all around me. Sharing with friends. Caring how it affects them. People do what they say they will do. Thinking in clean skin. Knowing what to do with my day. You, maybe. The light at the end of the tunnel. The sun, again. Getting it wrong again. Letting you be better. Continue letting go. Knowing what I need. You, maybe.
iii.
Friends. Thinking about
The light. Better. Continue.
I need you, maybe.
Úna Ní Nualláin is an interdisciplinary theatremaker and writer from Dublin, Ireland. She loves writing so much she occasionally forgets to be embarassed of it. Úna graduated in 2022 from UCD with a first in Law with History. She completed her MFA in theatre directing with The Lir Academy in 2025. Recent shows included assistant directing on Bán in The Abbey Theatre, November 2025. Úna is editor-in-chief of the Martello Journal and has been published in a variety of anthologies and journals, including Crossways Literary Journal, Bullshit Lit Mag, Semaphore Journal and Ragaire Journal.