Paula Meehan

Name 6 poems

The Pattern, The Exact Moment I Became a Poet, My Father perceived as a Vision of St Francis, Death of a Field, The Virgin at Granard Speaks, Buying Winkles

The Pattern: (volta, onomatopoeia): the sting..

the sting of her hand across my face in one of our wars

The Pattern: (olfactory sense): The smell..

The smell would percolate back through the flat to us

The Pattern: (repetition, metaphor + literal): knowing history..

knowing history has brought her to her knees

The Pattern: (direct speech, pattern repeats): 'It'll be..

It'll be over my dead body anyone harms a hair of your head.

The Pattern: (short sentence, run on line): I wore..

I wore that dress with little grace.

The Pattern: (colour metaphor): She favoured.., I dreamt..

She favoured sensible shades: Moss Green, Mustard, Beige. I dreamt a robe of a colour so pure it became a word (metaphor, contrast, also free verse represents rejecting pattern and rules)

The Pattern: (simile): If I..,.., she'd..

If I swam like a kite..,.. she'd reel me firmly home.

pattern: stigma

stigma of the second hand

(and the cycles of violence in a patriarchal society)

The Exact Moment i Became a poet... (onomaopoeia, visual,

was in 1963 when Miss Shannon rapping the duster on the easel's peg half obscured by a cloud of chalk

The Exact Moment I Became a Poet: (direct speech): '..or mark..

'..or mark my words, you'll 'end up' in the sewing factory.'

The Exact Moment I Became a Poet: (reflective, conficted): the teacher..

the teacher was right and no one knows it like I do myself.

The exact moment; those words (she knew how much words affected other)

'end up' robbed the labour of its dignity

The exact moment; the teacher (monosyllabic, clear and no abiguity)

the teacher was right and no one knows it like i do myself

The Exact Moment I Became a Poet: (simile, pun (birds:women-depressing)) mothers, aunts..

mothers, aunts, neighbours trussed like chickens on a conveyor belt,

The Exact Moment I Became a Poet: (chicken metaphor continued) Words could..

Words could pluck you, leave you naked, your lovely shiny feathers all gone.

Death of a Field: (personification) The field..

(title itself)

The field itself is lost the morning it becomes a site

(hyperbole) (also contrast, same ground, different emotional ties)

death of a field: woodpigeons..finches…magpie.yearning. plight

woodpidgeons in the willow

finches in whats left of the hawthorn hedge

magpies that sound like lfying castanets

yearning of yarrow

plight of the scarlet pimpernel

Death of a Field: (juxtaposition, paradoxical) The end of..

The end of dandelion is the start of Flash

end of teazel is the start of ariel

(paradoxical as end leads to start)

Death of a Field: (repetition, impersonal) In some..

In some archive of some architects screen

Buying Winkles: (sibilance): My mother..

My mother would spare me sixpence and say,

(minimal, 'spare' : poverty)

Buying winkles: hurry up

hurry up now and dont be talking to strange men on the way

Buying Winkles: (energetic verbs, childlike imagery) I'd dash..

I'd dash from the ghosts on the stairs where the bulb had blown..

Buying winkles: a bonus if

a bonus if the moon was in the strip of sky between the tall houses, or the starts out

Buying Winkles: (simile) the winkles would

be wet and glisten like little night skies themselves

(importance to her, her world)

Buying Winkles: (light metaphor, contrast) I'd see the..

I'd see the light in golden mirrors.

when the bar doors swung open the'y’ed leak the smell of men with drink

(comitted to being inside, not the woman outside , contrast how women and men spent nights in poverty)

Buying Winkles: the sweetest

the sweetest extra winkle that brought the sea to me

Buying Winkles: (direct speech, colloquial): "Tell.."

"Tell yer Ma.."

(community)

Buying Winkles: id bear

id bear the newspaper twists bulging fat with winkles proudly home, like torches

(importance, bring light to her family in darkness)

Francis: (onomaotoepia) Bottles

Bottles chinked... the rest of the house slept

francis: (imagery of aging) the first

the first frost whitened the slates of the estate...his hair completely silver

francis: desriptions of his aging

stoop and stiff [leg]

francis: (image) the garden

the garden was a pandemonium

francis: (repitition for momentum) they came then

they came then: birds of every size, shape, colour; they came From eaves and garden sheds...from..from..from..from

francis: (observation) he was suddenly

he was suddenly radiant, a perfect vision of St Francis made whole, made young again, In a Finglas Garden

statue: (geo location)

granard

statue: (comfort of people with the cruelty of the church) the whole

the whole town tucked up safe and dreaming

statue: (onomaotpoeia + pathetic fallacy) the howling

the howling wont let up. the tres cavort in agony

statue: (society's hypocrtical nature, establishes link between religion and violence)where men

where men hunt each other and invoke the various names of God as a blessing on their death tactics

statue: (nature's suffering too, unappealing images of stagnation and decay) dying lakes...

dying lakes...fish drowning... stagnant water

statue: (futility of prayers) they kneel

they kneel before me and their prayers fly up like sparks … then wink out

statue: (desire for sexual actions and no more purity) i would break

i would break loose of my stony robes, pure blue, pure white

statue: (repition+s desire for exual union ) my being cries

my being cries out to be incarnate, incarnate, maculate and tousled in a honeyed bed

statue: () i remember

i remember the child who came with fifteen summers to her name

statue: (obliviousness + turning of blind eyes of the town) she pushed

she pushed her secret out into the night far from the town tucked up in little scandals

statue: () i did not

i did not move, i didnt lift a finger to help her, i didnt intercede with heaven

statue: (she prays to the sun goddess) o sun

o sun, centre of our foolish dance...molten mother of us all, hear me and have pity