Sugan Twisters
Seamus Heaney Sugan Twisters
"I’d manipulate the hook,
Walking backwards, winding for all I was worth"
My son Christopher and his son Finn recreated the activity in my garden. I did this task with my own father I from whom I learned the craft of making ropes out of hay which were used to tie down a corn stack. The wire was obtained for me by John Deeny at his country emporium. He reminded me that the elderberry bush which provides the two easily cored shafts was locally known as a "bootry bush". I used my own "bootry bush" for the two handles. Súgán is an old Irish name for the rope. It can also be made from straw. The most commonly utilised wire was "bull wire" used along the top of farm fences. At the foot of the painting is a spare twister with its two handles.
Some critics see the poem as a metaphor for poem making.
From District & Circle