There is no real pattern to the selection of these poems. Or at least, none that is intended.

But if you’ve listened to the most recent episode, My Mother’s Body by Marie Howe, you might see the overlapping sensibilities between that one and today’s, "Warming-Down" by the Irish poet (and university lecturer and medical doctor) Aideen Henry.

I read this poem in a collection called Slow Bruise, which was published in 2010 and came to me by way of a second hand bookshop recently and however many unknown hands who carried it to me from wherever it came.

The Marie Howe poem is a daughter’s reflections on a mother after her passing. Aideen Henry’s poem is a reflection by a daughter about a father, not after he has died, but after his essence—his energy, his masculinity, his life in multiple meanings of that word—has gone forever. It is, to me, intensely sad and beautiful too, and should, I think, encourage us to embrace with all our hearts and our limbs too, every precious moment we get with those we love.

A note on the text.

In the middle of this poem there are three lines in the Irish language. In the poem those three lines are translated immediately into English in the lines that follow. One of the effects of this is, to me, is a dualism, a togetherness but a separateness too, between the father and daughter, between the man and the woman they are, between their generations, maybe even between the past and the future.

If this poem speaks to you in a different way, please follow it and listen closely. I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can follow on Twitter and Instagram. The links are in the description.

You can read the poem here

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