September 18: Poet of the Week, Paul Muldoon, "Hedgehog"

Around this time of year, in literary circles, Paul Muldoon's name gets thrown around a lot.  He's an Irish poet.  A contemporary of Seamus Heaney.  Muldoon read at Heaney's funeral. 

Certainly, Paul Muldoon deserves to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.  I think he will, some day.  Maybe this year.  Who knows?

But, if his name isn't spoken in Sweden this October, Paul Muldoon can at least boast that he was named Poet of the Week by Saint Marty. 

That should be a consolation.

Hedgehog

by:  Paul Muldoon

The snail moves like a

Hovercraft, held up by a

Rubber cushion of itself,

Sharing its secret

With the hedgehog. The hedgehog

Shares its secret with no one.

We say, Hedgehog, come out

Of yourself and we will love you.

We mean no harm. We want

Only to listen to what

You have to say. We want

Your answers to our questions.

The hedgehog gives nothing

Away, keeping itself to itself.

We wonder what a hedgehog

Has to hide, why it so distrusts.

We forget the god

Under this crown of thorns.

We forget that never again

Will a god trust in the world.