Poems by Attracta Fahy
Attracta Fahy’s background is Nursing/Social Care. She works as a Psychotherapist, lives in Co. Galway, and has three children. She completed her MA in Writing NUIG in 2017, and participates in Over The Edge poetry workshops. Her poems have been published in Banshee, Poetry Ireland Review, Poethead, Coast to Coast to Coast, Orbis, Crossways, The Curlew, Impspired, North West Words, Honest Ulsterman, Four x Four, Boyne Berries, The Cormorant, Enthralled, The Blue Nib, Burning House Press, Elixir, Bangor Literary Journal, A New Ulster, Three Drops from a Cauldron, Picaroon, Fly on the Wall, and several other magazines, and journals at home and abroad. She has been included in The Blue Nib Anthology, shortlisted for 2018 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year, long listed for 2019, and a Blue Nib nominee for Pushcart. She was a winner in a Pamphlet competition and is working towards her first collection.
Komorebi
木漏れ日
I have been falling in love with mysterious gods,
long as I can recall, the enigmatic you–
you see in the pupilla of another’s eye,
that moment you know all gods at once,
ineffable host, yellowing sun.
An artist painting rays
streaming through cloud,
crimson outlines earth,
leaves radiate in wind.
Whatever alchemist, god, genius, you are,
I pray to you, worship the curve of your
smile, shadows that beam over your skin,
my hands longing to touch your veil.
I find you in raindrops, their touch
on my lips. We are blackbirds singing,
the Om of divinity. I hold you
to this deep ravine, yin in my veins.
I nest you in rivers, grooves
of my body. For I am clay.
But we are all archangels, born of this sun,
bringers of dawn, scattering
through fronds, our grace, in hope of love.
We are life, and death, and the waves, and still,
I can’t find words to write you.
*Komorebi – a Japanese word to describe a phenomenon, like
the light that filters –when sunlight shines through trees.
If I had the Power
you would not live in separation,
one sided male image, split from
earth, womb, root.
You would hear, feel, touch, scent
the intimate call to belong, would
love, honour your feminine,
understand her secrets, cling
as white throat swifts to wire.
You would take for comfort, purple
haze aubrietia, rocks,
live equally in sun, shade, dark
of winter, pure white,
lily of the valley.
If I were leader, your eyes would not
gaze only to Zeus, but down to earth,
where woman who claimed our ground,
domain of Eriu,
knew the healing power of herbs,
milkworth, thistle, thyme, cures of kelp.
You would take your other self
on moon paths into valleys,
forests, and to work,
find the ‘she’ within woods, trees
revered, rags, talismans at her feet.
If I was magic, you would understand
all colour, no need for social class, blankets
strewn on shop fronts to warm our homeless,
or stolen children dispersed.
But, I have little say, except to act, live
my own conviction.
The grail, not a straight line,
nor’ easily understood,
it’s an iridescent thread that guards
our mysterious wound, love, betrayal.
Ariadne holds one end, while we face
monsters in our labyrinth.
And if I could swing it, we would all be god,
goddess, with no need to rape, destroy earth,
pillage womb, or wound our children.
I Saw You in a Dream
Walking towards you
I was speaking three lines of beauty,
sheer beauty to you,
until the inner voice, my critic
from the hilltop, decried
my lines to you.
And then for nights
for all the nights and during the days,
among the crowded noisy streets,
I search for the lines;
I will never be a wife again,
I want me back, and I want your warmth,
I found you first, ‘cos you found me
© Attracta Fahy