Tomorrow, Mar. 17, is St. Patrick's Day--so get out the green!

My siblings and I used to wear green pajamas to bed on the 16th so we'd be "covered" as soon as the clock struck midnight.

(Though I'm only 12% Irish, as a poet, I exaggerate my claim!)

For me, Mar. 17th is a time for remembering not only St. Patrick, but also another patron saint of Ireland, St. Brigid, who was also a patron of poets and scholars.

It is a time also to remember Ireland's great cultural heritage: its music; and its authors, such as James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Seamus Heaney, and many others.

And it is a time to remember Ireland's struggle not only to preserve that culture, but to escape genocide.

Here's to the resilience and the beauty of the Irish people! And to peace and harmony for all!

And get out those green pjs!

For poems in "Dancing" alluding to St. Patrick, Brigid, or Ireland in general, see the following: "I Meet Him," "After a Grad Students' Meeting," "Primavera," "Brighid Urges the Poet," "Epiphany," "Cupbearers," and "Oklahoma Real."

For poems alluding to Yeats, see "No More Young Foolishness" and "Down by the Sandy Garden."

For poems alluding to Oscar Wilde, see "The Silence" and "Cupbearers."