… 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