Live Encounters Poetry & Writing February 2025
January Morning, poems by Eileen Sheehan.
January Morning
Nothing on TV but the spectacle
of politics and war. I switch channels
and the members of the Dáil
are on their feet, shouting each other down:
like a classroom when a teacher
has forfeited control. On every other channel,
faces of children, children dead,
children dying. Overwhelmed
by the sadness of it all. Small.
Small in the face of it all, I do
the only thing I can. I switch it off
and go outside to make the garden
ready for the high winds to come.
Tonight I will curl into a tight ball,
with all my spines protruding, hoping
no tree falls on us. Willing the storm
not to sunder the globe from corner to corner.
Saint Brigid’s Eve
Sundown to sunrise marks the time of her travel,
with her white cow beside her and her mantel of stars.
Every house in the land has the door on the latch
with green rushes spread on the flagstone outside.
While the people inside await the arrival
of the Goddess of Springtime; the Keeper of Light.
She blesses the bright squares of cotton laid out on the bushes
granting good health to the wearers all year.
Three loud knocks declare she is present
to dispense her protection against lightning and storm.
Three loud knocks and her mantra repeating,
Open your door, open your eyes, open your hearts, let Brigid come in.
© Eileen Sheehan
Eileen Sheehan is from County Kerry, Ireland. Her most recent collection is, The Narrow Way of Souls (Salmon Poetry). A bi-lingual selection from this collection, Duet of Lakes: Eastern-Western Poets in Sympathy, is published by Junpa Books, with Japanese translations by Maki Starfield. She is widely published in journals and anthologies, including; “Days Of Clear Light – A Festschrift in Honour Of Jessie Lendennie And In Celebration Of 40 Years Of Salmon Poetry”( Arlen House/ edited by Alan Hayes & Nessa O’Mahony); TEXT: A Transition Year English Reader (editor Niall MacMonagle / The Celtic Press);The Deep Heart’s Core: Irish Poets Revisit a Touchstone Poem (editors Eugene O’Connell & Pat Boran/ Dedalus Press); and Blackjack, with translations into Romanian by Oana Lungu (editors Dorina Șișu and Viorel Ploeșteanu / Singur Publishing).
She has read at festivals in Ireland and abroad including The Shanghai Literary Festival; an ACIS Conference in USA; The Cork International Poetry Festival and Listowel Writers’ Week.
Really enjoyed these poems Eileen. We’ll need to turn off the TV and ‘let Brigid in’ to escape all the sadness and to help tidy up after the storm.
January morning actually captures a lot in 6 short verses, heartbeat, mind, body, soul of much of what’s wrong in the body politic, with wars and the ignorance to Global warming. Well put.
I love January morning
Brava Eileen on both poems – given the state of the world – the one harrowing the other consoling.
Relevant and sharp as ever, Eileen.