Micheál Ó Ruairc
Dambatheanga / Damlanguage
ISBN:
9781851321056 limited edition
It’s High Noon and unarmed language-militants are in the trenches or lobbing language grenades over half-doors in the Gaeltacht, linguistic dambuster and poet, Seán Ó Ríordáin, is frantically manning the Inniscarra Dam so as to prevent the torrents of Jargon from flooding his beloved city, a pair of star-crossed lovers observe their love being burnt to a cinder on a bonfire at the dead of night; at the dead of night also a Nitelink is bearing a busload of lost souls towards Oblivion while in another poem a middle-aged man is endeavouring to get his Stone Boat to float.
This collection of poetry, Ó Ruairc’s first since 2001, brings into sharp focus the full range of this poet’s talents and his take on Ireland in the 21stcentury. The book reads like a poetic rollercoaster ride that is impossible to put down, veering from the sublime to the ridiculous and expressing a wide range of emotions in the process. It is a tour de force that will live long in the memory. As Cathal Ó Searcaigh so succinctly puts it in his Introduction: ‘With his keen vision for renewal he risks new options, and shapes new strategies in Gaelic verse. He is a challenger to our conformities … “a linguistic dambuster”’.
High Noon atá ann agus tá teangamhíleataigh neamharmtha sna trinsí nó ag labáil teangaghranáidí thar leathdhoirse sa Ghaeltacht, tá an dambóir teanga agus an file, Seán Ó Ríordáin, tagtha chun fóirithint a thabhairt mar dhamba Inis Cara ionas nach ndéanfaidh díle an Bhéarlagair a chathair ionúin a threascairt, féachann lánúin réaltchrosáilte ar a ngrá á dhó ar thine chnámh ag uair mhairbh na hoíche, ag uair mhairbh na hoíche freisin tá Nitelink ag iompar lán bhus d’anamacha damanta go Tír an Dearmaid faid is atá fear meánosta i ndán eile ag iarraidh a Bháid Chloiche a chur ag snámh.
Tugann an bailiúchán filíochta seo, an chéad cheann ag Ó Ruairc ó 2001, chun cruinne géire réimse iomlán tallainne an fhile seo agus a dhearcadh ar Éirinn san aonú haois is fiche. Is geall le rollchóstóir de mharcaíocht fhileata é an leabhar gur deacair é a leagan anuas, é ag scinneadh ó shúgradh go dáiríre agus ag cuimsiú réimse leathan mothúchán ag an am céanna. Tour de force atá ann a mhairfidh i bhfad i gcuimhne an léitheora. Mar a deir Cathal Ó Searcaigh go hachomair ina Réamhrá: ‘With his keen vision for renewal he risks new options, and shapes new strategies in Gaelic verse. He is a challenger to our conformities … “a linguistic dambuster”’.