Where Poetry Begins

“Poetry begins where language starts: in the shadows and accidents of one person's life.” – Eavan Boland 

Born on Sept. 24, 1944, Boland is both an award winning writer and a longtime professor (at Stanford University) whose work focuses on the Irish national identity and the role of women in Irish history.    She holds the rare distinction of being inducted into both the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Royal Irish Academy.  Among Boland’s best-known works are The Lost Land, In A Time of Violence, and A Woman Without A Country.

For Saturday’s Poem, here is Boland’s

                                                 

                                       This Moment

                                              A neighbourhood. 

                                              At dusk. 

                                              Things are getting ready 

                                              to happen 

                                              out of sight.

                                              Stars and moths. 

                                              And rinds slanting around fruit.

                                              But not yet.

                                              One tree is black. 

                                              One window is yellow as butter.

                                              A woman leans down to catch a child 

                                              who has run into her arms 

                                              this moment.  

                                              Stars rise. 

                                              Moths flutter. 

                                              Apples sweeten in the dark.

Share A Writer’s Moment with a friend at http://writersmoment.blogspot.com