Crossings xxvi

  From cover to cover Seeing Things features a series of interfaces: journeys in and out of real world situations; between real and mythical worlds; between secular and spiritual; between existence and annihilation; between objective and subjective; from the present into the future; between first order experience and seeing things anew; between political affiliations. Movement from one side to the other requires a range of crossing points: doors, windows, gates, casements …  the windscreen of a car. In this piece Heaney comes up against a presence that experience has taught him to be wary of. The poem focuses pointedly on the Ulster’s Troubles and evidence of British forces and military vehicles sent to the province. Sighing with exasperation (Only), Heaney […]