Two Poems by Mirjam Touminen.

The Swallows Fly

The swallows fly
high
in towards bluer sky
low
down beneath darkening clouds. 

from Under the Earth Sank (1954)

I Write

I write it shows in the eyes of the dog
it creeps in the paw of the cat
it shimmers in the solitary fly’s pair of wings
it leaps in foaling withers
it flies in the flight of birds
it flies
it sinks
in the earth down under roots
it smiles in the infant’s eyes
it grows in the eyes of children
it wonders in young eyes
it yearns in human eyes.

from Under The Earth Sank (1954) by Mirjam Tuominen.

I shall be reading her stories and essays this week and may even put up a few notes about her, it seems that women writers tend to sink into oblivion with remarkable rapidity. Mirjam Touminen, like Weil and Sachs were writing at the time when the Second World War was occurring. Tuominen dedicated a poem to Simone Weil which I shall link to, given the high amount of searches under Weil’s name that occur on this site. Both women were incredibly important chroniclers and writers of their era.

Its nigh impossible to access some of Simone Weil’s essays on religion and totalitarianism. Both Tuominen and Weil’s struggles with war and with their art have been reduced to slim volumes, You really have to look them out, it is worth the travail.

The two small Tuominen poems are taken from her Selected Writings, Publ. Bloodaxe 1994.