November’s Poem of the Month comes from Aifric Mac Aodha’s recently published bilingual collection, Foreign News (2017), with translations by David Wheatley.
Cailín Bréagach na mBráithre
do Dhonncha O’Rourke
(Segovia, 2017)
GLUAIS
Aidhnín malltriallach
an dorcha le dubh,
sna nótaí cúil —
an nath, an nod.
Na leabhair nite,
thuar a thosach
ach fáistine fola,
ní mheánn brobh;
nó go dtuigtear
sna cnámha
go bhfuil
an saol láimhe
le cur ó aithne,
ní fíor ann féin an t-olc.
from Foreign News (2017)
by Aifric Mac Aodha
The Brothers’ Little White-lie Girl
for Donncha O’Rourke
(Segovia, 2017)
GLOSSARY
A dud, slow fuse
in the black dark,
in the endnotes —
a nod and a wink.
The books washed
as you’d predicted
but the knowledge in your
blood is less than you think
until you get it,
deep in your bones,
that you can dismiss
the world of the here
and now, face harm
down with a ‘No’
from Foreign News (2017)
translated by David Wheatley
