It is often impossible to find the words to describe out experiences. Just like they say how a picture is worth a thousand words, I think it is often true that a poem can be worth a thousand feelings. To sum up my experiences while studying and traveling throughout Ireland, here are ten poems to give you a glimpse of these marvelous two weeks.
1. Flight 1946
The red blinking
light on the wing
illuminates the earth
just enough to remind
us that there’s still
a world out there.
The moon takes advantage
of our proximity and
reaches its celestial
hand toward our flight
for a collective grasp
while the waves miles
below join the love
to be sure we coexist—
the water, the sky,
and us foreign souls
all melted together in
a swirl of unending
and tangled beauty.
2. The Vee
Wheat fields and grassy pastures
carpet the earth and the mountains
fence them in just enough to guard
from the world’s corruption but
not too much as to halt the growth
of an unending freedom.
3. Lady Gregory Pub
Voices from
oceans apart
join together for
that one hallelujah
that makes our voices
melt together into
a gooey chorus
of unity and paints
our souls into one
watercolor canvas of
swirled green and orange
And red white and blue.
4. Galway
Foggy folk of buskers
tickles my ears as my
feet brush against the
stone of this vibrant town
and my nose inhales
the mist of beer and laughter
that reminds me there is
so much more under this
diverse and effervescent sun.
5. The Quays
We stand above the wormhole
rooms that seem to never end
and absorb the good vibes as
the music erupts inside
of my chest and fills our veins
with beautiful vibrations.
Its echoes are scooped up
with the sway of our hips and we
soak up the melodic energy while
getting drunk off the dreams of living.
6. Sláinte
That familiar clank
of glass takes me back
to the airport, to your
once foreign eyes which
have become all too familiar
as we drink the smooth liquid
and let it fill our bodies with
collective excitement and pure
yet drunken love for each other.
We allow the dim pub light to
swallow our friendships before
spitting them back up for the whole
room to enjoy as we throw our
glasses together for the hundredth
time and warm our beating hearts
with that sweet sweet taste of
Jameson after yelling the word that
allows us to escape our American
lives and become Irish even if
only for a couple of weeks.
7. Irish Skies
The billions of
brightened burning
clusters of light in
that never-ending sky
overhead connect us to
those billions of souls—
those of people and earth
and everything that burns
with the passion of
this fiery universe
which curves to the
contours of our celestial sky.
8. Kilmainham Gaol
Light-hearted evenings of Guinness
and crisps are interrupted with the
visit to the place where hundreds
were killed and oppressed within
those icy cold stone walls.
The history comes alive as my
arms become overwhelmed with
goosebumps and my heart rate spikes
to the hundreds and the spirits envelop
our bodies with their sorrow and
dreary ends to their lives while locked up
in that prison which haunts the country
of a patriotic, proud, beautiful people
who have risen from the dust to emerge as
an inspiring and beloved independent nation.
9. Dublin Lights
Stars dangle toward
our beating bodies
on strings that lower
slowly yet rapidly into
our small, connected
pupils and the world
outside of this
tiny unending Ireland
ceases to exist.
10. Gaelic Good-Bye
Leaving behind those
misty and fertile lands
filled with cows and
good memories.
Leaving behind the fiddle
in every pub and street
and the laughter of old
forever friends playing
cards at Nellies.
Leaving behind the lively
clouds with ceaseless rains,
and the sunshine grass that
burned our sweater-covered skin.
Leaving behind connected spirits
and greenery which reflected the
brightness and beauty that we
shared in all of our souls as
we danced around Roy’s kitchen
floor and forced sandwiches into
our never-empty bodies.
Leaving behind memories which will
fill our lives with “remember whens.”
Leaving behind Ireland,
That place which changed our worlds.
