Knowing how much Ela liked the translation of Song of Amergin I did a few years ago, it seemed like a good thing to base an award text on. Bran and Korrin did an amazing job designing and creating the scroll, and I was overjoyed to have a hand in the process.  You can see […]

A new poem grew out of some research into the archaeology of Navan Fort. mythologically known as Emain Macha.  Navan Ash Here I sit, thousands of years later clutching a book of burnt offerings and blood described by scholars loathe to judge those Gaels who orchestrated arson for their Sidhe. I dream bereft Ulaid piling […]

“Fatten your animal for sacrifice, poet,  but keep your muse slender. —” Καλλίμαχος/Callimachus 310/305–240 BC Scholar at the Library of Alexandria

Orion Dead H.D. 1886-1961 [Artemis speaks] The cornel-trees uplift from the furrows, the roots at their bases strike lower through the barley-sprays. So arise and face me. I am poisoned with the rage of song. I once pierced the flesh of the wild-deer, now am I afraid to touch the blue and the gold-veined hyacinths? […]

Eating Poetry by Mark Strand   Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. There is no happiness like mine. I have been eating poetry.   The librarian does not believe what she sees. Her eyes are sad and she walks with her hands in her dress.   The poems are gone. The light is […]

The Song of Wandering Aengus William Butler Yeats I went out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, And cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread; And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in […]

Wherever You Woke by Dermot Bolger There only ever was one street      One back garden, one bedroom: Wherever you woke you woke beneath      The ceiling where you were born, For the briefest unconscious second      An eyelid’s flutter from home. I found this in a compilation called Soho Square Six […]

This was my challenge for the Celtic component of the Bardic Quest at War of the Wings, 2017.  Boasts have a particular prominence in Celtic mythology: the most famous is the Song of Amergin, but the boasts in Mac Datho’s Pig are also notable.  Audio version You call yourselves Bards? That word is mine– My Mother Tongue gave […]

It dawned on me I had never translated this most famous passage from Irish mythology, so I set to work.  From Lebor gabála Érenn: The book of the Invasions of Ireland. I worked from the text here.  Audio file Am gáeth i mmuir. ar domni. Am tond trethan i tír. Am fúaim mara. Am dam secht ndírend. […]

So, this happened:  Mine is the penultimate piece.   It was interesting to be recorded.  Like many people, I had a hard time getting used to the sound of myself, but I think I’ve now messed with recordings enough now that I do indeed recognize my own voice at a remove. Everyone involved with this […]