Sarah Walz (’14) is a senior English major from Elk Grove Village, Illinois. This past summer, Sarah was abroad as a part of the English Department’s Ireland program, where she worked to refine her craft amid the beauty of the Emerald Isle. Here are two of her poems.
Weathering
Ireland always looks like it’s raining,
and when I look for you in the crevice
between rock and rock, I see gray sky.
The wind whittles cliffs until they become unstoned,
Grain by grain the cliffs drop, beaten back by tides and rain.
To my pain, I can’t remember the way the curve of your jaw
fits into the curve of my palm.
The bones, weathered down, smooth out.
Oh Pioneer.
Keeping the home steady, she knew
that the dirt of the floor was the floor of the sky.
That was enough to keep her in line
with the horizon for one more rising sun.