This sonnet from my latest collection Angel Hour (2021) is based on a heart-shaped stone in the wall of a former convent school on O'Connell Avenue, Limerick City, not far from where I live.
Who keeps re-painting the stone bright red?
I suggest an answer to this question in the second part of the poem.
THE HEART IN THE WALL
In the boundary wall of a convent school
close to my home, there’s a heart-shaped stone
under hanging leaves. Half-meshed in sleep,
I’m waiting at a bus-stop by the wall
to join the morning rush-hour’s obsequies,
and notice that the stone has been redone
bright red, the scrawl of teen initials gone:
a valentine shines nameless under boughs.
A boy once loved a girl who took the veil,
choosing the ghostly company of saints.
An old man now, at night he travels still
once or twice a year to rejuvenate
the heart contained within the convent wall.
Somebody holds a torch for him; he paints.
© Ciaran O'Driscoll 2021
This is such a beautiful poem, I wonder if this stone means something to you even though (i think) you're not the one painting it bright red, it must be something significant to you and apart of your memories, reminding you of home?
ReplyDeletethis is beautifully written, is your second stanza inspired by a book or a memory, a film?
Dear alvyack, Thank you so much for telling me how you liked my poem. The stone means a lot to me, and even meant something before I wrote the poem. And you are right: I'm not the one painting it! It is very significant to me, this poem, but I cannot say precisely why. I can tell you, however, that as I was reading it at a poetry festival in Italy last week, I broke down in tears at the last line: "Somebody holds a torch for him; he paints". I think it has something to do with the fact that I spent some time in a religious order among 'the ghostly company' of saints', and can therefore appreciate more keenly the strength of the love of two people which survives even in the circumstances described!!
DeleteDear Ciaran O'Driscoll,
ReplyDeleteI am a Year 13 student in South London who is studying your poem 'Please Hold' as part of my English Literature A Level. I have always read the poem as a commentary on the link between linguistic breakdown and societal collapse. I particularly like the way that the poem's speaker ends by repeating the same restricted lexicon as the robot he has been fighting against. It reminds me of the end of Orwell's '1984' when Winston finally accepts that he loves Big Brother and submits to his authoritarian power, just the like poem's speaker sinks down to the same language as the robot.
I know that poems' meanings aren't defined by authorial intention, but I was wondering if you could give me some insight into the way you wrote this poem. I would love to know if any specific experiences inspired it, if there were any techniques you specifically thought about, and what message you were trying to send! It is my favourite from the collection.
Sorry to bother you with this message!
Dear mac.fergusson,
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I may have come to you too late, as I had given up looking at comments on my blogs, as they seemed so off-the-wall and irrelevant! This is SO not the case where you are concerned! You seem to be heading for high marks.
I wrote the poem in a fit of temper at the time when I experienced the first 'robot' or recorded rather than actual voice at the other end of the line with its stock responses and options. Of course I had been well practised in free verse at the time, so that's probably why my poem didn't degenerate into total incoherency because of my rage. Your connection between societal collapse and linguistic breakdown is totally apt. The only other thing I would say is that personally I would not regard the last three lines as submission but rather as an example of bitter irony and parody. Thanks for your intelligence!