This is Episode 36 of Poems to Live Well By.
As with every poem on this podcast, the introductions here are only introductions. You are encouraged to listen to the poem, and to read it, and to allow it to speak to you however it does.
Perhaps fitting for today, February 1st, St Brigid’s Day, we have a female poet with both a strong Irish background and strong feminist philosophies.
British Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2019, Carol Ann Duffy has published more than 30 collections of poetry, including a number of books of children’s poetry. Raised in an Irish Catholic family in Glasgow, Scotland, she moved away from religion in her teens.
This poem, “Prayer”, is a testimony of the power of prayer. It tells us that prayer exists as something that’s bigger and goes much further than the normal boundaries of organised religion. A note on the text: there is a word in here that might need a definition. "Minim" is a term from music which means something like a tiny beat, a half-note. Also, the last line is a list of place names, which will be well known to anyone who has happened late at night to the Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio.
Music Credit:
Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | https://onsound.eu/ | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
