Originally published Summer 2019. This archive article preserves the reporting and context of its original edition.
(Over the Water, Caherciveen, Co. Kerry)
“What is that?” I ask
What are these?
I want to know their name
Make them familiar to me
The birds dip and flutter
Their colors and songs new
A few seem to ring a bell
Almost Midwestern but somehow askew
The yellow flowers sway
The fields dotted with plants
Spiders crawl and flies zip
The winds make the rushes dance
Bluebells, cowslip, furze, snowdrop
Blackbird, swallow, wren, magpie
They cover the ditches, lanes and fields
They populate the trees and sky
I want to know their names
To learn something more
Make them my own in my new home
List them off when I look out the door
Sanderling, goldcrest, corncrake, thrush
Foxglove, bog cotton, dock leaf, nettle
Their names as sweet as their song
Their names as sweet as their smell
I want to know the bird
Whose song wakes me at half four
I want to know the insect
That scurries across the cottage floor
Alone in the cemetery the songs are quiet
No sound of bird song, buzzing wings, or wave
I want to know which blossoms I picked
And laid on my great-grandparents’ grave.
- By Brigid Flaherty
Brigid Flaherty
Brigid Flaherty is currently finishing her education at Loras College in Dubuque, Ia., and will graduate in spring, 2020. During her second year at Loras, Brigid studied and interned in Ireland for five months, traveling the country with her family and friends.
Once she returned to the United States, poetry became a creative outlet for her experiences.) abroad. Her majors are both in history and secondary education, with minors in Irish Studies as well as International Studies. After graduation, Brigid plans on settling in Ireland where she hopes to not only work, but spend time with family and friends as she continues to write.
This publication is her first, though this poem won the Donn Goodwin Prize for poetry at Milwaukee Irish Fest in 2019. Her hometown is Peoria, Ill. Both sides of her family are Irish, so she grew up in a house full of Irish songs and CDs, Irish dance, and am learning the Irish language.)