Aideen Henry

Bean Bheo  (A Live Woman)

Aideen Henry

I recline at high tide in Galway Bay,

flick on the moon,

roll up the clouds,

wave off the sun,

rest my elbows in Clare,

my book against the Aran Islands.

My breasts swim with the seals,

while my feet jacuzzi

in the surf of the Salmon Weir.

Penguin children and seagulls scream at Blackrock;

a giant bathing is a glorious sight.

 Aideen Henry lives in Galway, she is currently finishing her MA in writing at NUI Galway. Her poems have previously been published in Crannóg, West 47, the Shop, Revival, Stony Thursday Book, Ropes, Southword, and The Cúirt Annual.

The ‘Fear Marbh’ (the dead man) is the name given to one of the Blasket Islands, off the coast of Dún Chaoin, Dingle peninsula, Kerry, because the shape of the island, when viewed from the mainland, looks like a giant lying still on his back.