Inside Out
Carrie Cochrane
I've not been able to get this one out of my head since "her" name was
brought up on Valentines day. Thought this would be one way to release it.
Feeling morose today seeing as it was practically springtime...bright and
warm...trees budding.......
INSIDE OUT
Nuala ní Dhomhnaill
Like the full moon
in grand array
you sail
into the room to me.
Master indeed
of all you survey,-
the shine on the furniture, the swellbeat
of my trembling, apprehensive heart.
Let's say you are "well on,"
your head is in a spin,
your gestures and your jests
grandiloquent
you don't even notice
that your white jersey
is crumpled
and inside out on you
You are so careful
of your waistline,
so dapper and so nifty
in your dressing,-
what else is left for me
to do but go out in the garden
and sit on the lawn
and howl my anguish at the moon.
Because, ochón, my sorrow,
but there is truth in the old saw
that there are three smiles
more bitter than death itself:
the grin of a treacherous hound,
the beam of melting snow,
and the smirk of your lover
who has just slept with another woman.
ky...@valuestreams.com
Ah, yes, i remember those carefree days, the fae in evry shadow mocking the
blissful, doomed romance of the taller folk as we skipped along the
faultline. Who would have guessed as we packed the cur together from the
crisp, stinging blanket of winter that the sun would melt its ears into
hideous fangs and come utterly after us. The other woman they found wrapped
in leash when spring came, still singing that country sung, and meowing like
a forlorn cat when she came to the bridge with the steel guitar. Ah,
memories.
In article <6d2mdt$o...@bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net>,
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K. E. Dennis
Carrie Cochrane wrote:
>
> I've not been able to get this one out of my head since "her" name was
> brought up on Valentines day. Thought this would be one way to
> release it.
[small snip]
_______________
_________
Ah, Carrie, that's a hard one to forget - especially for any who've
known this moment….
One more proof, if any were needed, that Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill has an
exceptional talent to see & write the most complex of feelings in
misleadingly simple words.
But I wouldn't want anyone to miss the Irish original, below (the
translation you published is by Peter Fallon), as once again it is a
marvel of poetic form: the traditional internal rhymes & word echoes
made strikingly modern. & the theme, of course, as old as any recorded
verses in Irish…
BTW: Wake Forest University Press has brought out a revised edition of
_Pharoah's Daughter_, which I heartily recommend to anyone who hasn't
yet basked in the full glory of Ní Dhomhnaill's works.
respectfully submitted,
|K.E. Dennis den...@mail.montclair.edu
|My employer is not responsible for my opinions,
|regardless of how sensible they are
________________
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
_Pharoah's Daughter_
pub. 1990, Gallery Press
An Taobh Tuathail
Ar chuma na gealaí
in airde láin
seolann tú isteach
an seomra chughaim.
Tánn tú i do mháister
ar a bhfeiceann tú ann,
scáileanna an troscáin
is tonnlíonadh mo chroí bhig aiteasaigh.
Taoi ólta beagán,
tá leathmhaig ar do cheann,
do gheamaí is do gheaitsí
iomarcach.
Ní thugann tú faoi ndeara
go bhfuil do gheansaí bán
in aimhréidh is é iompaithe
taobh tuathail amach agat.
Tusa atá chomh cúramach
faoi do chom,
chomh feistithe is chomh néata
i do phearsain --
níl uaim le déanamh
ach siúl amach sa ghairdín
is suí ar an lána
is mo chumha a chaí leis an ngealaigh.
Mar ochón, mo chrá,
ach is fíor an rá
go bhfuil trí gháire
níos géire ná an bás fhéin --
gáire chú fhealltaigh
gáire sneachta ag leá,
is gáire do leannáin
iar luí le bean eile dho.
__________
Carrie Cochrane
K. E. Dennis <den...@mail.montclair.edu> wrote in article
<34F72AAD...@mail.montclair.edu>...
> Ah, Carrie, that's a hard one to forget - especially for any who've
> known this moment….
> One more proof, if any were needed, that Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill has an
> exceptional talent to see & write the most complex of feelings in
> misleadingly simple words.
True, as you say, that ability to see, FEEL, and be able
to put that on paper, in those misleadingly (good description)
simple words, is what attracted me to her in the first
place. A friend showed me some of her writings, and I was
touched immediately. I only have a few of her poems in a sort
of compilation of Irish Literature, so I have been looking for
something in the nature of a "complete works," type of thing.
So, "Pharoahs Daughter" would be what I'm looking for Karen?
> But I wouldn't want anyone to miss the Irish original, below (the
> translation you published is by Peter Fallon), as once again it is a
> marvel of poetic form: the traditional internal rhymes & word echoes
> made strikingly modern. & the theme, of course, as old as any > > > >
recorded verses in Irish…
Thank you for that. You know, about 5 years ago in a combination
of a "wild hair" and "bravado," I decided that I was going to learn
Irish. The above makes more sense, if you know that I am
profoundly hearing impaired. I could hear fine as a child, to hear me
speak you'd never know it. That actually causes me alot of grief.
Well needless to say, after one class, I realized I would probably
need private lessons if indeed I was ever going to learn it.
I'm not a lip reader, but I use a combination of "all cues." There
are so many sounds that occur INSIDE the mouth that I just
could not see. I didn't tell anyone in the class about my "problem,"
knowing that they would be totally confused as to why I would want
to do this, as most people are when they see the things that I try
to keep doing. (I just recently had to give up acting in the theatre)
I think they thought I was checking out their dental work as intently
as I was staring at their mouths. Ah, me!
K. E. Dennis
Carrie Cochrane wrote:
[re: Nuala Ní Dhomhnail]
> [...] I only have a few of her poems in a sort
> of compilation of Irish Literature, so I have been looking for
> something in the nature of a "complete works," type of thing.
> So, "Pharoahs Daughter" would be what I'm looking for Karen?
Yes - so far, it's the best compilation of her work, & has the
distinction of featuring translations by some of the best contemporary
poets in Ireland...
But look as well for:
Selected Poems: Rogha Dánta / The Bright Wave
pub. 1986, Raven Arts Press
pub. 1993?, Wake Forest University Press
Ní Dhomhnaill did the English translations in this volume, which
includes that favourite of mine, "Leaba Shioda /Labasheedy." (You can
find it, courtesy of Our Own Ger, @
http://www.wwa.com/~abardubh/poetry/kdpoem3.html)
> [...] about 5 years ago ...I decided that I was going to learn
> Irish. The above makes more sense, if you know that I am
> profoundly hearing impaired. I could hear fine as a child, to hear
> me
> speak you'd never know it. That actually causes me alot of grief.
As one of my ears doesn't work @ all, I can imagine some part of the
bravado involved. But I was born this way, so don't experience it as a
loss - & of course, I have "normal" hearing capacity on the other
side... which makes all the difference, I know.
> [...] There are so many sounds that occur INSIDE the mouth that I just
> could not see. I didn't tell anyone in the class about my
> "problem,"
I almost *have* to tell people, or they're likely to think I'm snubbing
them when I miss some of the content of their speech because my head is
turned. It's the inconsistency of it that throws people, if they don't
know my situation.
Don't want to be thought rude when I'm not *trying* to be.
> knowing that they would be totally confused as to why I would want
> to do this, as most people are when they see the things that I try
> to keep doing.
What matter their confusion? They may mind their own business, & let you
mind yours.
My suspicion is that most of them would have been impressed, as I am, by
your ambition. But then, learning languages has never come easily to
me....
I hope you enjoy Our Nuala's poems as much as I do.
regards,
|K.E. Dennis den...@mail.montclair.edu
|My employer is not responsible for my opinions,
|regardless of how sensible they are.