1. What is an heirloom? 2. Does an heirloom always have to be something with monetary value? 3. Do you have any family heirlooms? If so, what are they?
In the following poem, the speaker is inspired by a family heirloom to reflect on the experiences of his ancestor.
Heirloom By Gerard Smyth
Among family heirlooms I fi nd a postcard written on a voyage to America: the barely legible last goodbye of a steamship emigrant.
I imagine him, my ancestor on the journey west: homesick, heartstruck. Like a fl edgling thrown from the nest to take a chance under Liberty’s outstretched hand.
I imagine him, sad to leave his bogbanks, grassland, the sound of the latch, but ready to seek with rolled-up sleeves the better life in Queens, the Bronx, streets with their entourage, streets that spawned hard tasks.
Flashback
Mood is the feeling or atmosphere in a poem or a piece of fiction.
