Seamus Heaney se nuutste digbundel, Human Chain (2010: Faber & Faber), het uiteindelik in die Suid-Afrikaanse boekwinkels aangekom, en hemel … Watter bundel is dit nie! Meesterlik, soos ‘n mens maar net van hierdie Nobelpryswenner kan verwag. Nietemin, op die BBC se webtuiste is daar ‘n onderhoud te lese wat met hom gevoer is deur Marie-Louise Muir, die BBC se beriggewer. Hierin verwoord hy onder andere sy verbasing oor die reaksie wat dié nuwe versameling in die media uitgelok het; veral oor die opmerking dat hy besig is om sy eie doodsberig in versvorm te skryf: “”I didn’t have such a strong sense of mortality running through the book until the reviews began to appear. It daunted me. I thought, this sounds like he’s writing his own obituaries.”
Heel tereg word daarop gewys dat Human Chain waarskynlik Heaney se mees persoonlike bundel tot op datum is; veral omrede dié verse kort na sy beroerte enkele jare gelede geskryf is: “”I suppose it was aided by the shock of the stroke and aided by taking a year off and being silent in myself. I myself feel that this book is more naked, and I’m much more tentative talking about it than other books.” In hierdie verband sonder hy veral die vers “Miracle” uit as ‘n sleutelvers in die bundel.
Op die vraag na wat sy planne nou vir die onmiddellike toekoms is, het hy soos volg geantwoord: “I’m going to afford myself a year off…. and wait and see, and live in panic for the next poem […] I think most lyric poets do live with the thought that this could be the last one, you know? You’re as good as your last one. I cannot will it – I wait for the surprise of it,” het hy gesê. “Without a prompt or a little surprise or some kind of large theme rising, nothing occurs. But I have written one poem which I know strikes the note for the next book, so at least we have a tuning fork.”
Vir jou leesplesier plaas ek die gedig “Miracle“, waarna Heaney verwys het, onder aan vanoggend se Nuuswekker.
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Nuwe plasings op die webblad is ‘n Keelskoonmaak-verse deur Jo Prins (in sy blogruimte) en Bibi Slippers. En daarmee eers weer groet.
Mooi bly.
LE
Miracle
Not the one who takes up his bed and walks
But the ones who have known him all along
And carry him in-
Their shoulders numb, the ache and stoop deeplocked
In their backs, the stretcher handles
Slippery with sweat. And no let up
Until he’s strapped on tight, made tiltable
And raised to the tiled roof, then lowered for healing.
Be mindful of them as they stand and wait
For the burn of the paid-out ropes to cool,
Their slight light-headedness and incredulity
To pass, those ones who had known him all along.
© Seamus Heaney (Uit: Human Chain, 2010: Faber & Faber. R184.95)