Welcome to Poetry Friday this week hosted here at Book Seed Studio. You will find a post about one of my favorite things in the whole world. I won’t give it away, but it usually involves wearing a swim suit and is very relaxing.
I’ve been looking at our old travel photos because I’ve been home so long. I went to Ireland in April 2016, when the world was a different place in so many ways. Was there really a time before the 2016 election?
Today I heard a piece on the news about how the pub owners in Ireland are enforcing the rules that Americans can’t come in until they quarantine for fourteen days. They don’t want another surge. I’m glad they’re doing the right thing.
One of the many things that struck me about Ireland were the brilliant shades of green that abound there. Moss grows thick in forests and enchants it, as if there really are leprechauns and faeries behind every rock and tree.
And as most teachers know who might be reading this, moss is a pioneer plant, like a lichen. It begins with a spore, and is one of the living things that can grow and thrive over time in a rock’s crevasse where there is little nourishment. Moss also grows and clings to tree bark in dark damp wooded places. Moss is a sign that the air is not polluted.
I wondered if moss harmed trees, but I discovered that generally it doesn’t. But when moss takes hold on rocks, it begins to collect pieces of loose soil blowing past and eventually, over time, breaks rock and turns it into soil.
MOSS It appears to just sit but it's working all day. Ask what you want, it has little to say. With fingers of steel, it breaks rock in two, turns it soil its equals are few. like worms spinning silk in cocoons inch by inch Moss makes the miraculous look like a cinch. © Janice Scully 2020
To further capture the mood of Ireland, the color green and moss, we need to hear the words and accent of an Irish poet. I’ll share a video of Seamus Heaney reading his poem “Digging.”
If you want to know more about Poetry Friday, you can find out here at Renee LaTulippe’s excellent blog for poets, No Water River.
Nice work on the Moss poem. Your words reminded me of the poem about Time in the Hobbit. I was in Ireland years ago and loved the eye shocking colors that seemed everywhere. From the shores to the pubs to the houses. Color everywhere!
Thank you, Tim. So you know the colors I’m writing about.
What a lovely post! You sent my memories winging back to years ago when my eyes were delightfully stunned by Irish green. I’ve just announced to my family that I want to go back and spend a summer in Ireland. Such a far-off dream right now….Have you heard of or read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book “Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses”? It’s on my TBR list.
I’ve heard there is a book about mosses out there. I might like it. Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you for the colorful trip to Ireland! Your ode to moss is lovely, and I love how it recognizes the efforts of something oft overlooked (and misunderstood). xo
Thanks for reading, Irene!
Thanks for sharing your memories of Ireland. I was supposed to travel there at the end of June, but alas, that trip has been postponed until 2021, covid willing. Thanks for your informative poem about the ‘miraculousness’ of moss. I’ll never look at the moss on the trees near us the same way again. 🙂
Thanks, Bridget. You’ll get there eventually. I’d love to return. This pandemic can’t last forever.
We spent 5 or 6 days in Ireland with our younger daughter a few years ago. The rocks, sheep, horses, caves, and the green…so much green. I loved it there and hope to go back someday. Thanks for your mossy poem–so much info in there!
ooooh. Nice, tight rhymes. You make me want to travel. Irish moss looks worth the trip!
Thanks for this virtual visit to Ireland Janice, I’d like to climb into one of the images and find a fairy or too amongst the moss… I enjoyed learning more about moss and it’s presence letting us know our air is a bit cleaner. Lovely poem, and wonderful reading by Seamus Heaney of his poem “Digging.” Hope I get to that enchanted green land one day!
Janice, I enjoyed your tour of Ireland and the accompanying poem. Nature is full of mysteries, miracles, and glorious sights like you shared. I also loved hearing Seamus read his familiar poem.
I love the poem. I struggled with some of his poems I’ve read, and I wish I’d read more. This poem makes me want to get back to his work and spend some time with it.