Doireann Ní Ghríofa Poetry

Biographical Note              Contemporary Irish Poetry Index

marginalia (foraois nach féidir)
marginalia (an impossible forest)

 .

marginalia (foraois nach féidir)

ní fheiceann
tusa anseo

ach seomra
folamh,

ach
in adhmad

an chláir sciorta,
feicimse foraois

faoi dhraíocht,
foraois nach féidir

dul tríthi,
agus ar ghéag

ann, tá
ulchabhán

aonair
faoi cheilt

a ghob
cuartha

ciúnaithe,
faoi gheasa,

a shúile
bioracha

duaithnithe –
dhá shnaidhm

dhonna
sa chlár,

sa choill
sin, agus

a amharc
uasal orm,

a deir
Feicim

cad é atá fút
fút, fút

fút. Feicim
cad é atá fút.

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 .

marginalia (an impossible forest)

you see nothing
here, only

an empty
room

but in
the timber

of that baseboard
I see a forest

bewitched, an impossible
forest that cannot exist,

so we could never
plot a crossing

through it,
and on a branch

there, a single
owl hides,

his curved
beak

silenced,
spellbound,

shrill
eyes

disguised
as twin brown

knots
in the wood,

in the woods,
and

his gaze,
gallant, smooth,

that seems to say
I see

what lurks under you,
yes you, yes you.

I see what’s under
you.

‘marginalia’ appeared in Oighear (Coiscéim, 2017). Translations by Doireann Ní Ghríofa.

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