Harriet S. Chessman on Seamus Heaney’s “Postscript”: Humility and the Present Tense

Harriet S. Chessman on Seamus Heaney’s “Postscript”:  Humility and the Present Tense

(Guest post by Harriet Scott Chessman)

I am a minimalist at heart, and now more than ever I’m searching for inspiration – comfort – significance – in the smallest number of words possible. So, last March, almost a year ago, I felt enormously glad to discover “Postscript,” by Seamus Heaney. A gorgeous, lyrical sixteen-line poem (two more lines than a sonnet), it isn’t a haiku, yet it has the feeling of a haiku blossoming into something more. I have held this poem close all year, like a touchstone; this winter, as we approach March again, it’s helping me come back to writing.

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