Irish Poem #8

Irish Poem #8 

her grandfather built the

cottage a hundred years ago

one roomed, thick walled

the kind you see in

coffee table books 

I sit in the inglenook 

(there must be a celtic name 

for that recessed spot

seats on two sides

fire in the middle you can 

look right up the chimney) 

she showed me how to turn 

the handle of the large wheel 

against the wall that somehow

sends air up through the grate’s 

bottom: I cranked it round

and round made the peat glow 

bright she said you need to make 

a wish whenever you do

something new – my wish is 

to return to Lena’s inglenook 

2023 Jacqueline Jackson

This article appears in A ‘Rogue’ Scientist’s Legacy.