CROSSING IRELAND: "FIR/MNA" by ANGELA ALAIMO O'DONNELL

The tenth of twelve poems in Angela Alaimo O’Donnell’s series. Click “Crossing Ireland” for the opening essay.  More about Angela Alaimo O’Donnell.

FIR/MNA

Here in the corner of the world-as-was

the old words still speak true.  The Skellig Ring

around the rose of Kerry’s coast drops us

down mountains to Gaeltacht shore.  The waves sing

the same song on the newer coast we know

but in strange language and a minor key.

The same things happen, but they happen slow.

The names for us different as you from me.

 

Here I am mna to your fir,

small swells in a surge of Irish thrust

as if a syllable were enough

to circumscribe our being here.

You face the wind and call to me,

my name as foreign as that sea.


Skelligs

2 Replies to “CROSSING IRELAND: "FIR/MNA" by ANGELA ALAIMO O'DONNELL”

  1. “The same things happen but they happen slow.” This is the line I will take with me into the new day, as I look out on mountains and valleys. I have loved this series, Charles. And Angela, your poetry stirs something deep and old in me.

  2. Thanks for these Good Words, Shirley. You’ve picked out the most metrically balanced line in the poem–10 syllables divided exactly in half by the comma, the first full end-stopped line.(In other words, you have a great ear for the music of poetry!)

    It’s been lovely to travel with you, albeit electronically. Here’s hoping we might have the lucky chance to do so in person one day.

    Cheers & Thanks,
    Angela

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