Thursday, June 13, 2024

A summer dance

In 1975, [Hartnett] made the great and bold political statement that he was going to no longer write in English but that he was going to "court the language of his people" with the publication of A Farewell to English.
~Wikipedia


Happy Poetry Friday! In addition to a poem, I'm including a quote below that I find encouraging. I started a new hobby/form of exercise this week and it's lovely to hear I don't need to worry about being bad at it. :)


Another mentor poem! This end of this one by Irish poet Michael Hartnett (Mícheál Ó hAirtnéide) struck me as good inspiration, with all the "she was a ..."

from Death of an Irishwoman

...she clenched her brittle hands
around a world
she could not understand.
I loved her from the day she died.
She was a summer dance at the crossroads.
She was a card game where a nose was broken.
She was a song that nobody sings.
She was a house ransacked by soldiers.
She was a language seldom spoken.
She was a child’s purse, full of useless things.


read the whole poem here

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Dare to Care has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Denise!

9 comments:

  1. Hi Tabatha, I haven't even posted yet but your post's beginning captured my attention so much that I read on! The quote really connects with the poem, though the poet may not think she's an interesting person, he certainly wrote about her, giving thought to her life! It's a lovely post for starting my poetic journey of Poetry Friday! Thanks!

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  2. Tabatha, I had seen that sweet description of not needing to be good at things, and I'm glad you are embracing that attitude with your new hobby. Here's to being well-rounded and more interesting as you learn new things! I like that poem by Harnett. How interesting that he stopped writing in English, and went to only Irish. Good for him for making that choice and making a statement. I will be interested to see how you are inspired by the "She was a..." lines, which are fascinating and so interesting.

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  3. Hello lovely Tabatha. Your purple flower matches the purple ruffs on my post. :) And I am loving the wisdom of the experience. I so agree with that! Enjoy your new hobby/exercise!

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  4. Tabatha: This really is an intriguing and thought provoking post. I especially love the quote about experiences, the building of a bank of experience that makes one multifaceted and interesting. The poem, also, is so rich. Thanks very much for sharing.

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  5. Thanks for these lovely asters or aster like enchanting flowers. And yay for starting a new hobby/exercise–there's lots to be gained from the process, enjoy this new journey! Thanks for introducing me to Michael Harnett–I'd like to just sit with his intriguing poem for a while and take it in…

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  6. Oh my gosh, this line: "I loved her from the day she died" -- the BEST!

    And thank you for sharing the wisdom about trying things.The most interesting people I know are those who have ventured to try something new.

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  7. I love this poem, and the 'she was' repetition makes it intriguing, wanting to know more about this person. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. YES!!!! I lead a weekly art program at the library, and I repeat this wisdom until I'm blue in the face. I love to draw and paint and do all sorts of creative things. Will I ever sell my artwork, or win an award for it? Oh no, not at all. By any measure of external assessment my art is terrible! But that's not why I do it! I do it because getting creative and messy and mucking about is fun, it's interesting, it's challenging. I enjoy it. And that's more than enough.

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  9. That poem! Wow. I found that so moving.

    And yes, yay, and huzzah for doing things purely for the love of them. xo

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