Art Ó Súilleabháin, Galway, Ireland
Reeds lean in the wind, whispering island names,
rattle the winter withering with sharp consonants
green – a summer with the soft vowels of growth
a language once clear, now lost in a new labelling.
Inis Dá Bhuí or Inis Damh Bhuí – Island of two cows
or of a yellow house, Buaidhe – almost impossible
in another tongue – Booyeh – the real vowels sound
cluttering the language of foreigners reading maps.
Gulls screech meal triumphs over white-lined rocks
‘mayflies, mayflies, mayflies’ – a hatch to fill gullets
protein floats from gravel floors – metamorphosis
littering waves with the green vowels of new wings.
A curlew wails a plea into the clouds of south winds
that blow Garbhaí na gCuach into our imaginations
crying long a,e,i,o,u’s to the edges of their freedom
forgotten loved ones fading in the books of memory.
I hear undertones of a shout I can no longer ignore
scuff purple spearmint, tearing it from watery roots
lean on a larch post, marking a boundary on the shore
learning the secrets of the surf lapping round my boots.
Irish inclusions
Inis Dá Bhuí (pronounced: inish-dhaw-wee): Island of two cows (an island in Lough Corrib)
Or Inis Damh Bhuí (pronounced: inish-dhaw-wee): Island of the yellow house
Buaidhe (pronounced: boo-yah): Island on one cow (an island in Lough Corrib)
Garbhaí na gCuach (pronounced: gor-vee-nah-goo-ugh): the rough wind from the south that blows the cuckoo to the west of Ireland
Cloiste faoi rún ar an gCoirib (Gaeilge)
Cromann na giolcaí sa ghaoth
ag cogar ainmneacha na n-oileáin
croitheann siad an gheimhreadh
ag feannadh le consain ghéara
uaithne – samhradh le gutaí boga
teanga a bhí soiléir tráth,
anois ar strae i lipéadú nua.
Inis Dá Bhuí nó Inis Damh Bhuí – oileán an dá bhó
nó oileán an tí bhuí, Buaidhe – beagnach do-ráite
i dteanga eile – Booyeh – fuaimníonn na gutaí fíora
ag plúchadh ráiteas na nGall ag léamh léarscáil.
Scréachann faoileáin éachtaí thar charraigeacha bhána
míoltóga Bealtaine – briseadh bhairr le craois a líonadh
snámhann próitéin ó ghrinneall ghairbhéil – athrú ó bhun
ag lot na rabhartaí toinne le gutaí glasa sciatháin fhliucha.
Caoineann crotach achainí i scamaill an ghaoth aneas
a shéideann Garbhaí na gCuach isteach inár samhlaíocht
ag olagón á,é,í,ó,ú fada go h-imeall a saoirse
muirnín dearmadta ag seargadh i leabhair na gcuimhní.
Cloisim foshruth, scread nach féidir liom a shéanadh
spágáil mé mismín, á stróiceadh ó fhréamh uisceach
chlaon mé ar chuaille learóige, ag marcáil teorann ar thrá
ag foghlaim rúin na mbrathanna ag slaparnach timpeall mo buataisí.
Art Ó Súilleabháin lives in Corr na Móna, Co na Gaillimhe. He spends his time writing and fishing on Lough Corrib. Tá leabhair do pháistí foilsithe aige as Gaeilge agus bhuaigh sé North West Words as Gaeilge. He has published in English in Poetry Ireland Review, Collections by Dedalus Press (Writing Home & Local Wonders), Hold Open the Door from the Ireland Chair of Poetry, The Life of Trees from Cinnamon Press, Skylight 47, Vox Galvia and many other collections. He has broadcast pieces for Sunday Miscellany in English and as Gaeilge.