Here is a link to an article I wrote for The Irish Times recently about a wonderful man I knew in Bordeaux called Joe Rowland. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Tra Lí 13.4.16
Táim ag tnúth go mór le filleadh ar an bhfód dúchais Dé Céadaoin chun roinnt dánta a léamh in Óstán Meadowlands @8. Beidh Pádraig Mac Fhearghusa (eagarthóir Feasta) ina fhear an tí agus beidh fíon agus soláistí eile ar fáil ann.
Buíochas ó chroí le Helen Ní Shé agus An Saol Ó Dheas as mé a chur faoi agallamh ar a gclár Déardaoin seo caite. Bíonn Helen iontach ag plé filíochta. Is féidir éisteacht siar leis an gclár anseo.
Nós
Chuir an sárfhile Simon Ó Faoláin agallamh orm don iris Nós i dtaobh an chnuasaigh nua. Is féidir teacht air anseo.
Píosa san Irish Times
An-sásta gur scríobh Pól Ó Muirí, eagarthóir Gaeilge an Irish Times, píosa faoi Tost agus Allagar sa nuachtán inniu. Is féidir é a léamh anseo.
Splanc @TG4
Very happy to have been involved in the script and voice-over of ‘Solas Céad Bliain’ by Tadhg O’Sullivan. It received funding as part of the TG4 Splanc season. The film is a meditation of the presence of light in Irish artworks over the past 100 years. You can watch it here. The other short films in the Splanc series are well worth a look, too.
It’s been a hectic few months working on this project, the Garden of Remembrance commission and the organising of various launches of Tost agus Allagar… (which reminds me, Dublin launch is tomorrow in Club an Chonartha, and Tralee will be on 13 April). Hoping to return to the quiet business of writing poems as soon as possible!
The artwork featured in the above picture is ‘The Permanent Present’ by Mak Garry.
Seoladh i gClub an Chonartha, 1.4.16
Beidh ócáid againn Dé hAoine, Lá Aibreáin, i gClub an Chonartha i mBaile Átha Cliath chun Tost agus Allagar a sheoladh. Déanfaidh Marcus Mac Conghail píosa cainte is beidh ceol agus soláistí ann. Tosóidh an oíche ag 7.30. Táim buíoch den bhfoilsitheoir, Coiscéim, as an oíche a eagrú.
Is féidir éisteacht le Marcus ag reic dánta le tionlanacan ó Nell Ní Chróinín anseo.
Beidh Rónán Ó Snodaigh ón ngrúpa Kíla ann ar an oíche ag ceol. Bígí linn!
Garden of Remembrance
It was a great honour to have been asked to write a poem for the Garden of Remembrance in 2016. The poem was inspired by Oisín Kelly’s statue of the Children of Lir. I wanted to use the story of Clann Lir to connect the uprisings of the past with the the Irish language today. I also wanted to pay homage to Liam Mac Uistín’s poem and his line ‘glúnta na haislinge’ which features in the Garden of Remembrance. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be at the State Ceremony yesterday (Easter Saturday) but was please my poem was read out at this very poignant occasion.
Cuimhne
Fiú is iad i riocht eala,
fágadh a dteanga acu:
cumas urlabhra,
a gcuid amhrán.
Níor chlis ar a gcuimhne.
300 bliain de dheorantacht fhliuch,
300 bliain idir dhá ríocht,
300 bliain de dhaoirse sáile.
Tháinig is d’imigh
glúnta na haislinge,
ealaíontóirí, filí,
lucht píce is airm,
iad uile ag iompar na bhfód.
Maidir linne, glúin na saoirse,
tá uisce trínár dteanga,
tá giotaí dár n-amhrán dearmadtha
ach maireann cleití na cuimhne fós;
san áit íogair, tá ball breac.
Memory
Even in swan-form
their tongues remained human:
their ability to speak,
their song-store.
Their memory sustained.
300 years of sodden contortion,
300 years between two kingdoms,
300 years of saltwater captivity.
They came, they went,
the generations of dreamers
the poets, the makers
the pikemen and snipers
all now bearing the sod.
As for us, the generation of freedom,
with our watered-down language,
our songs only half-way recalled,
a few feathers of memory survive
in that tender place, a mottled patch.
Léirmheas ar Tuairisc.ie
Táim an-sásta gur foilsíodh léirmheas ar Tost agus Allagar ar Tuairsc.ie an tseachtain seo caite. Is féidir tuairimí Shíobhra Aiken ar an leabhar a léamh anseo.
RTÉ Radio 1 Arena
I read a poem for Arena, RTÉ Radio One’s arts programme, on Friday. It’s dedicated to Jean McConville and the children of the Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. I read a prose translation in English that I did myself for the broadcast. You can listen to it here
Around this time last year there was a long article in the New Yorker about Jean McConville and her family entitled ‘Where the Bodies are Buried.’ Harrowing stuff.
Seoladh na Gaillimhe
Mo mhíle buíochas le gach éinne a tháinig go dtí an seoladh i gClub Áras na nGael, go speisialta le Diarmuid de Faoite a dhein píosa cainte
agus leis na ceoltóirí Séamus Ó Coileáin, Síobhra Nic Aogáin, Liam Ó hAisbéil agus Aisling Ní Churraighín. Dúirt Lillis Ó Laoire amhrán deas meidhreach ar an oíche freisin. Chuir Dough Bros píostaí deasa ar fáil agus caitheadh siar cúpla gloine fíona. Agus bhí an foilsitheoir (Coiscéim) an-sásta toisc gur díoladh neart leabhar!
Agus tá léamh eile beartaithe san Ardchathair ar an 31ú Márta le cúnamh na ndéithe…
Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh 
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