Interns' Choice of the Month

My favorite book of poetry and the interns’ poetry choice of the month is Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s The Girl Who Married The Reindeer. This is surreal poetry. This is profound poetry. This is breathtakingly beautiful poetry that redefines the world around us.

The characters and stories that Ní Chuilleanáin narrates to the reader are all captivating accounts of men and women who are lost, in search of something greater than themselves, and unsure of their place in the world. Her poetry speaks to me in particular as I find myself caught in the intermediate between the days of youth and adulthood. I think the lines, “This is what I inherit—/ It was never my own life,” speak volumes to her dark and brooding masterpiece.

My favorite poem is “Peace in the Mountains.” Ní Chuilleanáin creates a very vivid and somber pastoral scene at the beginning of this poem with a story of a traveler looking at a town that lies dormant among the mountains. After a brief description of the town and the surrounding area, a sudden, drastic change occurs in the middle of the poem as Ní Chuilleanáin reveals that “A gypsy woman lay/ Where she had been struck down beside the bridge.” Then the poem returns to normalcy as an immigrant wedding is described as having “sweet almond milk and loud music.” Why does the author include the death of a woman in the middle of a description of the day-to-day lives of the citizens of the unnamed town? Perhaps to show how we are often oblivious to the suffering of others. The poem is dark, and I am in love with it.

I highly recommend Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s The Girl Who Married The Reindeer.