For a while now I’ve been wanting to get into the works of the famous Irish writer Seamus Heaney. Mainly because I know this man was a literary giant among men. His poetry has inspired so many, and to be truthful I’ve felt like I’ve been missing out.
Many of my friends have been versed in his works, and Irish musicians I admire the same. So where to start? I was very aware a friend, and kind of neighbour where I grew up was a massive Heaney devotee. Yvonne Watterson, someone who grew up on the same Dublin Road Estate as I, and even taught me momentarily in Antrim High School as she started her teaching career, before moving to a new life in Arizona. So simply put, she was the logical starting point. A message on Facebook has brought me the guidance to start with ‘Stepping Stones’ a collection of interviews with the man himself, and ‘Ground Open’ poems 1966-1996.
I ordered them online, for not very much, and received them last night. The first cursory flicking through and I am already hooked. One piece in particular filled my eyes with tears, and my heart with intrigue. The haunting “Mid Term Break”.
I haven’t been so excited to read for a long time. I know these words are going to change me. They are going to make me grow.
And this has has also got me thinking.
As we are on the final countdown to Christmas there are a lot of pressures on families to live up to the imposed standards of others. Where people will try to buy the love and affection of others by lavishing them with gifts. The material gifts that often get cast to one side as the next material gift gets opened. If we go back one generation to our parents, it wasn’t about money. It was about giving of love and friendship.
Give something that won’t stretch your finances - no matter how much or how little you have. Give something thoughtful. Don’t feel pressured into ‘buying Christmas’, give something that can be carried forever. It can be free, it can be only a few pounds. It doesn’t matter. It’s what goes into the gift is where the value is. Give thoughtfulness. Where better to start than with words.
Whether a lyric that instantly connects or a poem to reflect, a novel to be revisited many times, it doesn’t matter. Give someone something they can reflect on for a moment, and forever. Give a moment every day as they think about a term of phrase, the story of the lyric, or the very second it stops them dead in their tracks with a ‘wow’ moment.
Give yourself in the gift, know that this will be the most valuable thing you can give...
Happy Damn Friday Peeps! x
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