Irish Families, a poem by Anne Higgins at Spillwords.com
Harris Vo

Irish Families

Irish Families

written by: Anne Higgins

Doing penance for our sins,
offering it up,
we’re fond of company,
whiskey,
and Jansenism.
We tell this joke on ourselves:
Irish Alzheimer’s?
You forget everything
but the grudges.

Our folk dance features
deft and flying feet,
while the rest of the body
freezes rigid, expressionless.

That’s so Irish,
we say of each other’s
verbal innuendo,
ambiguity,
interruptions,
non-sequitors.

We’re talking Irish –
masters of verbal obscurity,
group conversation as
double talk
obfuscation.

What a word that is!
The art of obvious fuses,
fusty effusions,
indirection,
bombastic, belligérant, sentimental,
a terror to our enemies,
a joy to our friends,
a jig of mystery
at home.

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