… and it has been difficult to choose just one poem to share.
Individual poems help me to pinpoint where I am at a certain time in my life, speaking to, and echoing, that which eludes my own self-expression.
The poem currently in my head and thoughts is one by Michael Gorman. It resonates much with my experience of growing up in Ireland.
From The People I Grew Up With Were Afraid:
‘The people I grew up with were afraid,
They were alone too long in waiting-rooms,
in dispensaries and in offices whose functions
they did not understand.’
…
‘And what were they afraid of? Rent
collectors, rate collectors, insurance men.
things to do with money. But,
especially of their vengeful God.’
It ends:
‘Our mother’s factory pay-packet
is sitting in the kitchen press
and our father, without
humour or relief, is
waiting for the sky to fall.’
This is why I so love poetry and so need it constantly in my life.
It succeeds in finding words to express my feelings and experiences, particularly where my own voice has failed me.
CQ