HUMAN CHAIN by Seamus Heaney
★★★★★
FSG, 2010
A sparse, supple collection of poems that each capture something singular and striking about human connections. The standouts to me were Human Chain, Route 110, “Had I not been awake,” and “The door was open and the house was dark,” the latter of which I’ll copy here because I think it captures what’s so elegant and perceptive about Heaney’s style:
The door was open and the house was dark
in memory of David Hammond
The door was open and the house was dark
Wherefore I called his name, although I knew
The answer this time would be silence
That kept me standing listening while it grew
Backwards and down and out into the street
Where as I’d entered (I remember now)
The streetlamps too were out
I felt, for the first time there and then, a stranger,
Intruder almost, wanting to take flight
Yet well aware that here there was no danger,
Only withdrawal, a not unwelcoming
Emptiness, as in a midnight hangar
Or an overgrown airfield in high summer.
You can pick up a copy of Human Chain here on Book Depository.
Heaney is one of the few poets I had to read for school that I actually really enjoyed. I should really revisit some of his work!
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I actually never had to study him for school and it feels like such a shame! I’ve read a few of his poems before but this was his first full collection that I’ve read. It certainly will not be the last!
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