'Jumping off Shadows' SELECTED CONTEMPORARY IRISH POETS Edited by Greg Delanty and Nuala Ni DhomhnaiU with a preface by Philip O'Leary CORK UNIVERSITY PRESS CONTENTS Acknowledgements xiv Preface by Philip O'Leary xvi Roz COWMAN Influenza/2 The Twelve Dancing Princesses/2 Dandelion/5 Annunciation/4 The Goose Herd/5 Logic/6 Apple Song/6 Compulsive/7 Fascist/7 The Old Witch Sings of Lost Children/5 Lot's Wife/9 Meanings/10 EILEAN Ni CHUILLEANAIN The Absent Girl//2 Swineherd/12 Pygmalion's Image/13 Ransom//.? The Second Voyage/74 Looking at the Fall//5 J'ai Mai a nos Dents/16 Odysseus Meets the Ghosts of the Women//7 Old Roads//* The Hill-town//<9 London//9 St Mary Magdalene Preaching at Marseilles/20 Dreaming in the Ksar es Souk Motel/20 The Informant/25 AINE MILLER Going Home/25 Da/26 Visitation/27 The Undertaker Calh/28 Woman Seated under the Willows/29 The Day is Gone/30 Seventeen/5/ ClARAN O'DRISCOLL Smoke Without Fire/55 The Poet and his Shadow/55 Great Auks/55 Little Old Ladies/56 Sunsets and Hernias/57 Epiphany in Buffalo/57 from The Myth of the South/5* ROBERT WELCH Rosebay Willowherb/42 Memoirs of a Kerry Parson/42 For Thomas Henry Gerard Murphy/ 46 DERRY O'SULLIVAN Roimh Thitim Amach/5/ Mianadoir Albanach os cionn Oilean Bhearra/5/ Marbhghin 1943: Glaoch ar Liombo/52 Teile-Smacht/54 PAUL DURCAN The Death by Heroin of Sid Vicious/57 Sally/57 Raymond of the Rooftops/5<9 Sport/59 On Pleading Guilty to Being Heterosexual/ 60 Wife Who Smashed Television Gets Jail/62 The Perfect Nazi Family is Alive and Well and Prospering in Modern Ireland/ 63 The Poetry Reading Last Night in the Royal Hibernian Hotel/ 64 AUGUSTUS YOUNG Denominator/67 The Weekend/67 'Tragic Vision'/6<9 from Lovelets (63-70)/69 Transition/70 from Mr Thackeray on Cork/ 70 vin GABRIEL ROSENSTOCK Belshade (Beal Sead)/75 Srannadh agus Rumi/75 An Mota i gCill Fhionain/ 76 Portraid den Ealaiontoir mar Yeti/77 Ag Obair ar Theacsleabhar sa Ghum/'78 Telefis/7* Dom Sheanchara, Tom Goggin/79 Dom Chomhfhili/ 79 Capall Mara/50 An Bhean a Thit i nGra le Dracula/57 MICHAEL DAVITT An Scathan/55 Chugat/54 I gCuimhne ar Lis Cearnaighe, Blascaodach (| 1974)/«5 An Sceimhlitheoir/55 6 Mo Bheirt Phailistineach/,96 Maistir Scoile/57 Do Phound, 6 Dhia/,9* I gClochar na Trocaire/90 An tEasaontoir/90 An Dibeartach/9/ Urnai Maidne/92 Meirg agus Lios Luachra/92 LlAM 6 MUIRTHILE Sa Daingean/95 Amhran/95 Riastai na Fola/96 Ultrasound/97 Athghabhail na Speile/97 Faoi Uisce/9(? Mise/99 An Drumadoirin sa Ghairdin/99 An Bheith Gheal//00 An Ceolteoir Jazz//0/ Beoldath//0/ Portraid Oige I//02 Portraid Oige 111/103 Eolchaire//04 GREGORY O'DONOGHUE The Glass/106 A Gift//06 Shadow.Play//07 Youghal Abbey/108 Louis Le Brocquy's Fantail Pigeons/109 Globe/110 Shift Work//// GERRY MURPHY A Poem to be Read on a Moonlit Night Outside a Police Station//13 Twenty One Words for the Security Council///^ Poem in One Breath/775 Still Point/775 Liberation Sequence One/116 Ten Words in Irish///<9 Lunch at the Yacht Club/118 Headgear of the Tribe//75 Contributory Negligence/119 Bedtime Story/120 Suite for Ms G./121 CONTENTS/W NUALA Ni DHOMHNAILL Aubade/125 Gan do Chuid Eadaigh/125 Geasa/127 An Ras//2# An Bhabog Bhriste/129 La Chead Chomaoineach/130 Dan do Mhelissa//5/ Ceist na Teangan/752 THEO DORGAN A Nocturne for Blackpool/134 Swimming Down Deep to Before Time Began/135 Catching the Early Morning Train//56 Savage/137 The Geography of Armagh/137 In the Metro, Moscow/138 At the Lubyanka/139 Red.Square/139 Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Easter 1991//40 MAURICE RIORDAN Time Out//43 A Word from the Loki//45 The Table//47 THOMAS MCCARTHY State Funeral//49 Daedalus, the Maker/150 November in Boston/150 Their Going, Their Dying/151 Love Like Trade/152 The Dying Synagogue at South Terrace/153 Shroud/154 Question Time/155 Mick Hannigan's Berlin Wall/156 Persephone, 1978/757 The New Euro Road/75* CATHERINE PHIL MACCARTHY Magnetic Field//60 Rag Doll/760 Killing the Bird/761 Sweet Afton//62 Lady Chatterly/765 The Lost Tribe//64 Buddleia//65 Japonica// 66 SEAN DUNNE The Quilt Story/76* The Basket//69 Tramore//70 Against the Storm/770 Throwing the Beads/ 771 Refugees at Cobh//72 from Letter from Ireland//73 GREG DEI^ANTY After Viewing 'The Bowling Match as Castlemary, Cloyne, 18477/77 Interrogative//77 Christopher Ricks'Oxford/77* The Master Printer//79 Backfire/7*0 The Emigrant's Apology/180 The Bridegroom's Tale//*/ Home from Home//*2 Liz O'DONOGHUE Saccadic Movement/184 Summer '89/7*4 Poem on Emigration -January 1990/7*5 COLM BREATHNACH Rince Beach/187 Seanamhran//*7 Stiurthoir Coir//** Ull//*9 Tochmharc//*9 Teanga/190 Scailbhean//9/ An Fhuinneog// 92 An Croi//92 An tStiil// 93 Louis DE PAOR Fainleoga/796 Treigthe/797 Timpbriste/197 Glaoch Guthain/198 Tigh Iarbhais/199 Gaeilgeoiri/200 Na hAingil Orga/207 Adharca Fada/202 Dan Gra/202 Didjeridoo/205 PAT COTTER Famine>Fugue/205 So So/206 CONTENTS Ixi TRANSLATIONS DERRY O'SULLIVAN Before Fallout (Roimh Thitim Amach) Derry O'Sullivan/209 A Scottish Miner above Beare Island (Mianadoir Albanach os donn Oikdn Bhearra) Derry O'Sullivan/209 Still Born 1943: A Call to limbo (Marbhghin 1943: Glaoch ar Urnnbo) Michael Davitt/2/0 Remote Control (Teite-Smacht) Derry O'Sullivan/2// GABRIEL ROSENSTOCK Belshade (Belshade (Beal Sead)) Jason Sommer/2/5 Snoring and Rumi (Srannadh agus Rumi) Jason Sommer/2/5 The Moat in Kilfinane (An Mota i gdll Fhiondin) Jason Sommer/2/4 Portrait of the Artist as an Abominable Snowman (Portraid den Eakdontoir mar Teti) Jason Sommer/2/5 Textbook: An Gum (Ag Obair ar Theacsleabhar sa Ghum)]ason Sommer/2/6 To my Fellow Poets (Dom Chomhfhili) Michael Hartnett/2/6 Television (Telefis) Greg Delanty/2/7 Sea-horse (Capall Mara) Greg Delanty/2/* For my Old Friend, Tom Goggin (Dom Sheanchara, Tom Goggin)Jason Sommer/2/9 The Woman Who Fell in Love with Dracula (An Bhean a Thit i nGrd le Dracula) Jason Sommer/2/9 MICHAEL DAVITT O My Two Palestinians (d) Mo Bheirt Phailistineach) Philip Casey/220 The Mirror (An Scdthdn) Paul Muldoon/220 Schoolmaster (Mdistir Scoile) Michael Davitt/222 To You (Chugat) Philip Casey/223 Morning Prayer (Urnai Maidne) Philip Casey/224 In Memory of Elizabeth Kearney, Blasketislander (•f 1974) (I gCuimhne ar Us Cedmaighe, Blascaodach (f 1974)) Michael Hartnett/224 The Terrorist (An Sceimhlitheoir) Philip Casey/225 In the Convent of Mercy (I gClochar na Trocaire) Sean O Tuama/226 To Pound, from God (Do Phound, 6 Dhia) Paul Muldoon/227 Rust and Rampart of Rushes (Meirg agus Uos ,. Luachra) Gabriel Rosenstock, Michael Hartnett/ 228 The Dissenter (An •tEasaontmr) Michael Davitt/229 The Outcast , ; • ;. (An Dibeartach) Michael Davitt/230 xn LlAM 6 MUIRTHILE In Dingle (51a Daingean) Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith/257 Song (Amhrdn) Greg Delanty/231 The Jazz Musician (An Ceolteoir Jazz) Dermot Bolger/252 Portrait of Youth I (Portraid Oige I) Ciaran Carson/255 Portrait of Youth III (Portraid Oige III) Ciaran Carson/254 The Silver Birch (An Bheith Gheat) Iiam 6 Muirthile/255 Repossessing the Scythe (Athghabha.il na Speile) Iiam 6 Muirthile/255 Streaks of Blood (Riastai na Fold) Greg Delanty/256 Lipstick (Beoldath) Con Daly, Philip Casey/257 Ultrasound (Ultrasound) Iiam O Muirthile/257 Longing for Home (Eolchaire) Iiam 6 Muirthile/25* Underwater (Faoi Uisce) Iiam 6 Muirthile/259 The Little Drummer in the Garden (An Drumadoirin sa Ghairdin) Iiam 6 Muirthile/259 Me (Mise) Greg Delanty/240 NUALA Ni DHOMHNAILL Nude (Gan do Chuid Eadaigh) Paul Muldoon/24/ First Communion (Ld Chead Chomaoineach) Paul Muldoon/242 Aubade (Aubade) Michael Longley/245 The Bond (Geasa) Medbh McGuckian/244 The Race (An Rds) Derek Mahon/245 Poem for Melissa (Dan do Mhelissd) Michael Hartnett/246 The Broken Doll (An Bhdbdg Bhriste) John Montague/247 The Language Issue (Ceist an Teangan) Paul Muldoon/24* COLM BREATHNACH An Old Song (Seanamhrdn) Colm Breathnach/250 ' Choirmaster (Stiurthdir Coir) Colm Breathnach/250 The Dance of Bees (Rince Beach) Colm Breathnach/257 Apple (Ult) Colm Breathnach/252 The Wooing (Tochmharc) Colm Breathnach/255 A Language (Teangd) Colm Breathnach/255 Shadow-woman (Scdilbhean) Colm Breathnach/254 The Eye (An tSuil) Colm Breathnach/255 The Window (An Fhuinneog) Colm Breathnach/256 The Heart (An Croi) Colm Breathnach/256 CONTENTS/OT.