N is for NORTHERN IRELAND

NORTHERN IRELAND

Photo by Amy LV

 

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Students - Yesterday was the first day that I actually considered opening up the dictionary again to find a different word.  But I did not do so.  (I am very honest.)  My first thought was, "Oh my.  First Jamaica and now Northern Ireland.  And I am not very good at geography or history."  I was surprised that out of 14 days, I would point to 2 country names.  Well, there are 195 countries in the world, so the dictionary is full of country names!

I like believing that things happen for a reason, and I believe this about today's post.  As soon as I began doing a bit of online research about Northern Ireland, learning a bit about its history, the country kept coming up again and again in current news.  Why?  Because the Titanic was built in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the Titanic sank 100 years ago today.  I was meant to find this word.  There is a new museum in Belfast, the Titanic Belfast, dedicated to this disaster.

Reading on about the Titanic, I learned that she had two sister ships, sister ships that I had never learned about before.  So I read a bit about the Olympic here and here and about the Brittanic here and here.  I thought that I would honor them today too as they also did important work and met some difficult days at sea.

You may notice that this poem does not rhyme except for the very ending.  I love reading poems like that, with the end rhyme coming almost as a closing surprise.  In writing this poem, I also hope that the reader will be surprised to realize that the sisters are ships and not human girls.

I have mentioned Allan Wolff's book before, but I must do so again.  Today I tip my hat again to Allan for his beautiful and haunting THE WATCH THAT ENDS THE NIGHT.  I will be reading this book again today.

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If you are looking for other Titanic book recommendations, don't miss Patrick Allen's post here at All-en-a-Day's-Work.

In case you are new to The Poem Farm, this month I am walking, letter-by-letter, through the dictionary, (closed-eyed) pointing to a letter each day, and writing from it. You can read poems A-M by checking the sidebar, and you visit Lisa Vihos and read her accompanying daily haiku at, Lisa's Poem of the Week.

On Poetry Friday, we heard wisdom from and sang birthday wishes to Lee Bennett Hopkins!  You may still leave a message (until 11:59pm tonight) on that post to enter a giveaway for Lee's most recent anthology, NASTY BUGS.

Tomorrow I will be back with letter O, and I will also be visiting Greg Pincus at Gotta Book as one of his featured 30 Poets/30 Days!

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