At Derrynane, I Think of Eibhlín Dubh Again

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

In April, when the bog myrtle

begins to flicker in the thickets,

when crimson stems thicken with

the beginnings of catkins, they stretch

to a length that might tickle

a girl’s knees, a girl who might be

running through bramble and bracken,

laughing over her shoulder, to a home

that waits steady in stone. Every time

I read your words Mo chara is m’uan tú,

I wonder where they buried you.

If I could find your gravestone,

I would bring you no rose, Eibhlín,

I would carry a fistful of myrtle stems

bound in twine, a small bundle

tied tight and neat to place at your feet.

Poetry Ireland Review Issue 124:

Edited by Eavan Boland

Poetry Ireland Review 124 contains new poems from Paula Meehan, Ciarán O'Rourke, Lizzy Nichols, Mark Ward, Gabriel Rosenstock, Özgecan Kesici, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, and many other compelling voices. Also included is Eilean Ni Chuilleanáin's remembrance of her Cork childhood, excerpted from The Vibrant House: Irish Writing and Domestic Space, a book of essays reviewed in issue 124 by Caitríona O'Reilly. Other books considered in this issue include collections from Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Mark Granier, Tara Bergin, The Cambridge Companion to Irish Poets, and the Collected Poems of the late Dennis O'Driscoll, and there's also a short interview with Thomas Kinsella along with an essay on Kinsella as poet and civil servant. Another Kinsella is this issue’s Featured Poet, Alice Kinsella, and all artwork for the issue is supplied by artists associated with the Olivier Cornet Gallery on Great Denmark Street, around the corner from Poetry Ireland.

Available now to purchase online or in all good bookstores.