Wake Forest University Press

Irish Poetry

Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill - The Water Horse

"As is expected to be expected of such a thrilling collaboration between such talented individuals, the results are literary magic. Ni Dhomhnaill's style is at once erudite and down-to-earth, cosmopolitan and parochial." Niall McGrath, The Black Mountain Review

"Through creating this volume, these three poets have created a rich tapestry that invites a reader to return again and again, picking up different threads to follow and to enjoy." Tramble T. Turner, Irish Literary Supplement

"This happy merging of styles is a model of what translation should be.  Ni Dhomhnaill's work has been remarkably well served once again." Caitriona O'Reilly, The Irish Times

from "Cadenza"

The soloist
is lost in the crowd
yet alone.
I know
the pitch of that note
cried only by
the cruellest reaches
of utter despair,
the reed's piped longing
in the wilderness.
A sudden
rapier of grief
stabs my heart
and breast
as though I'd been
cut in two
by a bit of barbed wire
as on that far-off day
on the cliffs of Killiney
when I heard the melody
of my daughter's
voice
empty itself…
 

$12.95
2000   128 pages
paperback
In Irish; translated by Medbh McGuckian and Eilean Ni Chuilleanain
ISBN 978-0-916390-93-8