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Some Days The Bird
Back in September, when Trasna released its Fall 2022 issue, we were delighted to include among the work a unique collaboration between American poet Heather Bourbeau and Irish-Australian poet Anne Casey. Over the course of a full year, each poet had written a poem to the other in alternating weeks. What resulted was a wonderful collection of 52 poems in conversation with each other from across the globe and seasons. You can read about the genesis for this project in an Irish Times interview. With gratitude to Heather and Anne, we include below their readings of the two poems published here in Trasna, and invite you to order their collection…
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Playground of the Apocalypse
by Shane O’Neill The strand is ravaged by the storm that had raged for two days, uprooting weeds and hurling rocks huge distances along the beach. Large chunks of sand have been torn away by the sea, leaving small dunes and bunkers for us to traverse unsteadily. The sky is still a heavy grey and we have to squint through the watery haze of falling rain and fight against the fierce winds. Black clouds are reflected in the tumultuous waters and barren black mountains tower over us. Tiny mussels are clamped to these monoliths, holding on tight against the forces of nature. In this deathscape, the natural elements blend into…
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Patrick Kavanagh: a Reader’s Experience
by Richard Hayes For generations of Irish readers—for this one certainly—the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh is inextricably associated with Soundings, the anthology of prescribed poetry for the Leaving Certificate English curriculum that was a staple of Irish secondary education from the end of the 1960s until the mid-1990s. Edited with sensitivity and skill by the late Augustine (“Gus”) Martin, then professor of English at University College Dublin, Soundings presented the poetry curriculum for the final exam with unashamed emphasis on the texts of the poems, without recourse to illustrations or photographs or that patronising commentary that seems to dominate textbooks now. Martin in his introduction to the book speaks of…
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about:blank by Adam Wyeth
about:blank by Adam Wyeth, is a piece of writing that both defies categorization and pays homage to the great literary innovators of the 20th and early-21st century.
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“On America” and Other Poems
Trasna is pleased to announce that poet Dan Murphy will join its team of editors. This week we feature four of his poems. Whether it’s a “rusty gate in a field of rock,” or “the cream cheese on your cheek,” Murphy explores the expansive to the intimate.
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Beannachtaí Trasna
In this first post on our new website we offer a blessing to all as we enter this new year of 2022. Here, Mawie Barrett, in her specially written Celtic Druid blessing weaves together connections from Ireland to Lowell and beyond.
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‘Only Connect’ – An Anthology of Poetry Written During the Pandemic
This week on Trasna we feature a new publication by Beir Bua Press, ‘Only Connect,’ an anthology of poetry and prose written during the pandemic and shared weekly with a group of writers on Zoom sessions led by Margaret O’Brien
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Daniel Wade reads from ‘A Land Without Wolves’
Daniel Wade, award-winning playwright, poet, essayist, and novelist, is making his second appearance in Trasna this week. Following his memorable tribute to poet Dermot Healy, last year, Dublin-born Wade has been actively pursuing his writing career and is now celebrating the release of his historical novel, A Land Without Wolves.
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“Even the Heather Bled” by Joe McGowan
On the morning of Wednesday September 20th 1922 – the closing months of the Irish Civil War – soldiers of the Freestate army shot dead six anti-Treaty Volunteers atop Sligo’s Benbulben Mountain. How did it come about?
