RIDDLE me this: what is written in one language but speaks in four? Answer: poetry in Irish. Of the collections under review here, the first, Do Lorg: Danta agus Aortha, was written in Irish and has a French gloss of every poem therein; the second, Dunmhar u Chat Alexandreia, has original poems in Irish and translations from Latin and French; the third, Mise a Shaolaitear, has translations from the Dutch; the fourth, Rainn agus Neamhrainn, is a collection of Scots Gaelic poetry translated into Irish, and the fifth, Giolla na nAmhran, is in Irish only.
So much for the monochrome world of the Irishspeaking artist.
Pol Breathnach's Do Lorg: Danta agus Aortha (Clo IarChonnachta, £???) wono Iar-Chonnachta's his publisher's poetry award last year. Breathnach's work is often inspired by the art of Mireille Guegant, and this collection contains eight colour plates of her art as reference to some of the poems.
Breathnach veers fromthe evocative lyric - "Thusa an mhior uilt, an chathair ghrio bhain,/buaile is creagan, feart, clai is cosan" ("C'est tois le miracle, le dedale./C'est tois cet ensemble de pres minus- cules, de dalles, de tombes, de murets, de sentiers sinueux" ("Aitheantas") - to the more ambitious prose poem: "Leis an gcoimheascar a dhean aim mo bhealach anseo, ag fagail an ti dhomh is ag treasnu an mhuirbhigh fhalaimh" ("A l'heure de crepuscule je me di- rige ici, quittant la maison et traversant les sables vides . . ." ("Ar an Uaigneas")
Without doubt, this is a book to be read again and again. However, this reviewer remains to be convinced of the value of prose poems.
"Eclectic" is the word that first sprang to mind after a reading of Sean O Luing's Dunmharu Chat Alexandreia (Coisceim, £3). Memories of the Munster Gaeltacht and its people - "Mo chean sibh a chuallacht dil-chompeanach /Tugaimis cluas do cheol na beatha" ("Sean an Chota") vie with translations from Jacques Prevert, Paul Valery, Raymond Queneau, Frederic Mistral, Paul Eluard, Hermann Hesse, and Latin texts.
To say that it leaves the reader gasping for breath is an understatement. If poetry is about engaging the imagination then this certainly fulfils its function. Nevertheless, I have a suspicion that there are three incomplete collections between these covers. Let us hope that at least one of them grows to manhood soon.
Micheal O Fionnain's Mise a Shaolaitear (Coisceim, £???) is also four books in one. Part one is translations from the Dutch; part two consists of meditations on Leabhar Cheanannais (a Latin version of the Four Gospels written in the early 9th century); part three is inspired by the work of the artist Marcel Chirnoaga, and part four is a small selection of personal reflections.
Once again this is a work which demands careful reading. "La Mor a Fheirge" has an intensity which burns: "Dhu bhaigh an ghrian,/dhearg an ghealach bhan,/thit na realta anuas o neamh./ Buaileadh breoite me le sceon."
As in O Luing's case, however, there is a feeling that this is a book that needs to be one thing or another. Being a Jack of all trades is fine and well but is there not also the danger of being master of none?
Rainn agus Neamhrainn (Coisceim, £???) is a bilingual collection by the Scottish poet Mairi Nic Gumaraid and represents a single maturing voice. The translations by the poets Padraig O Snodaigh and Liam Prut have an integrity rarely managed in these days of pyrotechnic cultural exchanges. People and places in "Dan do Eirinn", "Dan do Leodhas", "Fear an Fhraoigh", are the mainstay of the volume.
There is a quiet observation throughout which boths enlightens and informs: "Anois ta an t-iasc ar ais ins an Choille 'bhainn/an breac, is docha, 's an bradan og/'s ta an eala bhan 's na lachain/tar eis filleadh ar an Chanail . . . Da mbeadh se beo go foill."
Gabriel Fitzmaurice's Giolla na nAmhran (Coisceim, £???) is a selected work from two meagre collections. There is an approving introduction from the critic Alan Titley which this reviewer found totally at odds with what was actually between the covers. Poems such as "Polaiteoiri", "Bean an Leanna" and "Table Quiz" - "Table Quiz! Table Quiz!/ Anocht san Angler's Rest!/Proceeds will go to Charity!/Bigi ann gan teip!" - are simply too slight to warrant a second look, let alone a second book.