Connemara

Gorgeous video

Seamus Heaney "Digging"

Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.

Under my window, a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.

The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked,
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.

By God, the old man could handle a spade.
Just like his old man.

My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner’s bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
For the good turf. Digging.

The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.

Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it.

Cutting turf from a bog was done because it could be used as fuel in people's homes.

👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍

Somber, mournfully regretful and completely irreverent - your ability to capture the feel of an entire generation is remarkable and utterly unappreciated.

Little Owen is cute!

I love how intimate and simultaneously funny this was. Thanks for sharing this little corner of the world that was your life with all of us!

Phenomenal video Sean. I have similar feelings about my grandparents; the world they came from is unrecognisable today.
I'm going to Connemara next week as it happens, and I'll be thinking of this video while I'm there.
And Tatanga.

Oh man this one really got me. I'm glad I'm a patron and that you can put stuff like this out. Honestly this is maybe more personal as a story but I think most people have some variation of this feeling. Reminds me of how your Eva video made me feel and thats my favorite thing youve put out. Sorry rambling a bit but im sure this took no small amount of courage to put out and its cool seeing someone I respect be vulnerable and open this way.

Bottled nostalgia.

Excellent video.

this was a delite. thanks owen.

Beautiful video, well done mate

James Connolly and Michael Collins would be proud.

That was absolutely beautiful Owen

So good

Review fortnite next or I'll start the apocalypse

Gotta agree with the sentiment at the end. Whether you share the same skills and life experiences as your predecessors is not a big deal. Sure, it would be nice to inherit these assets as they might be really useful sometimes or connect us to the past, but ultimately some things will be lost between generations in this modern, connected, and rapidly evolving world. On the other hand, some things will be gained. The combination of pieces that make you will be different. There is no shame in that.

Whats with the cursing of nun's feet?

An Ceathra Rua?

you're not to blame for not learning the language nor should you feel any guilt about it even if you were to blame - you were only a child.

I had a similar experience when my grandfather died. I had no idea he was a decorated soldier when he came back from the war he worked at NASA for a while then for General Motors. I only found that stuff out at his funeral. To me, he was a cranky, rude old man who sat in a lazy boy all day watching black and white movies

Wow Owen you really are a better poet than Seamus Heaney!

The point is; rest in peace Ireland - Some still miss you, even if they pretend not to.

We finally did it, a reviewer has finally reviewed their own childhood

Amazing video, keep it up.

It's fun to do the goofs, and there are some really genuine laughs in this, but I'm glad you made this. Thank you for the story.

this was beautiful. thank you owen

Being the youngest child I didn't get enough time to absorb and appreciate the wisdom and experience from the colorful and storied lives of my grandparents too. I have my memories and this kind of archaeology to glean some lessons from what they left and I hope they realized how much I would grow to respect them.

I love your videos so much

Right in the feels with this one. Super Mario Land was my childhood

video straight up has me meowing ^_^

Damn, I get that man. My grandparents trailer in Eastern Kentucky is falling apart and I really need to get home to rescue photos and stuff. Plus its the place I woke the Windfish in Link's Awakening.

beautiful. the quick shot of you turning the camera around to your younger self, i had to watch watch a few times. the ending brought me to tear up. it's so clear to see through all this time, you're an incredible storyteller. that's the home that you built. you've brought so much joy, and are such a great point of connection and understanding to so many people all around the world.
there's been so many days i'd speedwalk home from college in heat or snow because you'd put something new out, and i wanted to really enjoy it properly as a treat after i'd done my work. or shared laughs with my late best friend over your classics. i dearly hope you do genuinely feel great about yourself and what you've done, if not now, one day. there's no one else i know who can do it just like this.

The infinite review leaves nothing untouched

Ive always been tellin' people, if ive told them once ive told them a thousand times. Owen is a poet on par, if not better than the great Shaemus Heany(?). They never listen.

Beautiful video m8

Such a beautiful video. You always have such a unique way of telling stories and making videos and are genuinely one of the best creators on this platform. Always a joy to watch your videos and this one was something special.

I’m always looking forward to a new upload from you

Why do these perfectly good and ostensibly quite valuable houses sit around until they start to (or finish) decay? Where I come from, Granny's house is sold and the spoils divided before she's properly cold (unless somebody from the family moves into it).

This is the Irish One Hundred Years of Solitude (way better than the original - which notably had literally no one hitting the griddy)

this is a wonderful video.

this was really touching :' )
thanks for reminding me to call my mom
(because its her birthday today lol)

Your work is much better than what I've read by Seamus Heaney.

this was beautiful, thanks

Wow- you actually managed to keep my attention for 7 minutes without me checking "ok is this nearly over- There's still another 5 minutes?! Nah I'm out"

My attention span has got quite bad over the years, yet I didn't lose it throughout the video. Hopefully your Grandparents house can get brought back to its former glory at some point and doesn't fall into true disrepair.

Beautiful

The ending got me, I'm tearing up.