Her Dul Abhaile Jar
Sighle Meehan
A scullery maid in Boston’s grand hotels,
memories sloshing in her bucket.
Carna, a seaweed shore,
brown waves pestering a pebble beach
coaxing her to stay,
while out beyond the sandbanks,
infinity,
baiting her sixteen years,
sea and sky colluding a line
where hunger did not pepper every day.
She sends money home, saves quarters
even dollars in her dul abhaile jar,
and then
a man who makes her laugh,
sings with her, songs of Carna, fishing nets
and mackerel, potato patches,
blackberries small and bitter – a September feast.
Eleven Christenings, nine First Communions,
tablets for a husband out of work,
the dul abhaile jar grows thin;
school-books, weddings,
still she saves, nickel and dime, the years
veining her legs,
her fingers stiff, contrary,
her feet in wide-fit, worn-down gutties
she searches Boston sidewalks for eggs
the yellow hen lays out beyond the yard in Carna.
dul abhaile: going home
Carna: an Irish speaking village on the west coast of Ireland
Sighle Meehan’s writing reflects her background in theatre, her love of stories, her interest in children and her life beside the sea in Galway. Although she mainly writes poetry, she has also written plays, a TV drama-documentary and short stories.
Her poetry has been published in Poetry Ireland Review, Fish Anthology, The Stinging Fly, Skylight 47, Pandemia, Best British and Irish Poets 2019 (Eyewear), and Universal Oneness (New Delhi).
Sighle was the winner of the Imbas (Australia) short story competition (2015-2016) for Hawthorne Close
- ‘Her Dul Abhaile Jar’ is published in Anthology Volume 15. Read more features from this volume or buy it now.
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