This week's Poem Of The Week, in association with Poetry Ireland, celebrates UNESCO World Poetry Day, which recognizes the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind. Our poem is Bones Brigade, by Sophie Meehan.
About The Poem: Sophie says the inspiration for this poem was her ‘constant state of distraction. Every time I start doing something I want to be doing something else, and a lot of my poems come from when I’m supposed to be concentrating on other stuff. I also have a constant fantasy reel running in my head of what I could be if I wasn’t just myself, so this poem comes out of my fascination with skateboarding and my wish that I were a cool 1970s skater chick. The Z-boys pioneered a new style of skating in the mid ‘70s in California, from finding empty swimming pools to skate in amidst a drought. I love the idea that a new cultural movement can come about by accident from an environmental condition. ‘
BONES BRIGADE
For Seán Ó Ciardha
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I spent the years when my bones were still growing
Burying them in my room
So I’ll never have spent them skating
In an empty swimming pool in Venice Beach
I imagine those kids
At least as sexless as I was
Too consumed by what their bodies could do on boards
To care about what they could do on beds
The boys with long hair and girls in flares
With hair bleached and skin darkened
In the sun
Puddles collecting in the bottom of the bowl
To splash in and cool off
You’ll dry soon anyway
In the sun
They have scars from it
Things to take out in bars and offices
And say that’s from that time I fell
Or was knocked or pushed
Or jumped just for the hell of it
And someone took the stitches out
With his bare hands
There’s the dirt from his fingernail
The grit from his board
Trapped in there forever like an insect in amber
A little bit of that summer healed under the skin
Maybe things would be different now
Or maybe the same
But my hands are white starfish and
I’ve never broken a bone.
First published in Poetry Ireland Introductions 2016 (Poetry Ireland 2017)
About the poet: Sophie Meehan is a Dublin-based writer of poetry and fiction. She is currently in Iceland, working on various writing projects.
