AN IRISH LEXICON
(A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U)
Twilight, and the deer are grazing in the Phoenix Park.
Someone dreams of Arkle, Beara, Drumlins, Errigal.
A poet writes of Dubh Linn, Lonndubh, Belfast,
Glens of Imal, Antrim, The Downs,
Devilâs Bit, Vinegar Hill, The Hook, Bannow,
Ships, helmets, Ogham, Newgrange,
Dawn chorus, dawn light, grave passages,
Burren limestone, dolmen, capstone, and Dowth.
In school they speak of Flight, Grammar, Imram,
Lir, Marian, Naoise, Oriel, in the DĂĄil itâs Partnership,
Rights, salmon, Taoiseach / ToscairĂ.
Sea fog and frost are rolling in. Land holds its breath.
âą
The SOMEONE, the TEACHER, the POET,
the POLITICIAN weave a dialogue of badger-bait,
bull-bait, dog-fight, and greyhound,
CĂș, Cuchullan, Dun Dealgan, Eamhain Macha,
ThĂĄinig long Ăł Valparaiso, tĂĄ tĂr na n-Ăłg
Ag cĂșl an tĂ, tir alainn trina cĂ©ile,
Mise Eire, Micheal Ă SuilleabhĂĄn,
The Long Hall, The Brazen Head, The Oliver
St. John Gogarty, The South Pole Inn, Omagh bomb,
GugĂĄn Barra, Guests of the Nation, La Mon,
Oedipus Complex, Lough Swilly, Anna Livea,
National Museum, SĂle na Gig, jigs and reels,
Riverdance, Liberty Hall, the Limerick pogrom of 1904,
the bee-loud glade, the beehive hut, Georgian Dublin,
Liberty Hall rebuilt and scaling the clouds,
Custom House, Guinness, the fighting boys of Annabelleâs,
Fairview Park, The George, Dawn Run, the Curragh.
Wren Women, Glencree, Synagogue, Germans and Jews,
Wicklow Jail, ghosts, Kilmainham,
Dawn executions in Dublin,
the Disappeared, Jean McConville, 1994, Abercorn, poteen,
the Black Pigâs Dyke, De Valera, Crazy Jane,
Old Croghan Man at rest in the his glass box,
clean as a newborn, renewed for viewing by millions.
Arigna, slit nipples, The Clonskeagh Mosque,
laundries, the Imam, Good Shepherd Convent,
CPRSI, Bessborough, the Protestants of Cork in 1921,
Monaghan 1974, Belfast Agreement, Fish on Friday,
Good Friday Agreement, that blackbird over Emy Lough,
gold at Clontibret, ghost estates in Laois, a haunted house
in Lucan, golden apples of the sun, whatever-you-say,
oil off Cork, Daghda, the Boyne, UB-65,
September 1913, extra points for Honours Maths,
Gaelscoileanna, BodhrĂĄns and spoons,harp-making
in Portlaoise jail, piebalds in Jobstown, free buggies
for immigrants, free curtains, money-for-old-rope-
single-mothers-of-four, Arkle, Beara, a wherewithal
for bags of coal, turf, as a wretched frost descends.
And yet we have a fabled coast, where sea-cattle plunge
into the WAVES. Inland, hill-sprites on DRUMLINS,
pismires on the bog, all CELT and tribe in South Ulster,
further north thereâs ERRIGAL, but speak not,
SAY-NOTHING, for words will never count so much as
gesture.
Flight of the Earls, OâNeill in Rome, Michael Robartes,
Kenny in D.C., Irish artists in New York,
Bringing-It-All-Over-There, the knowledge,
the Gathering, the sliver of salmon, the sucked thumb,
Fairtrade, Taltainn, free-range eggs, free-loaders,
curlews, buzzards, Lissadell.
Twilight, and the deer are grazing in the Phoenix Park.
Someone dreams of Arkle, Beara, Drumlins, Errigal.
On the Curragh, whin bushes dream, and horses
are stabled for the night. Frost bites down.
âą
CELTS
The exotic myth of origin, spread its cloak
from Eire to Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Galicia.
Even today, defies the MONGREL MIX.
Iâm an Irishwoman (youâre Irish? I love
the way you people speak!). Then part Scotwoman,
part Norman-maid, part OâDonnell on ...
