Listowel poet Séamus Barra Ó Súilleabháin has previously appeared in publications such as The Willow's Whisper: A Transatlantic Compilation of Poetry from Ireland and Native America, and now he boasts a collection of his own. Its title, Beatha Dhónaill Dhuibh, recalls canonical works of Irish hagiography a la Vita Sancti Patricii.
Part of Ó Súilleabháin’s bold innovation will have been to forgo the Hisperic Latin traditional to the genre, favouring his mellifluous Munster Irish alongside the kind of Hiberno-English that surfaces as he explores an instance of hostility to ministers of a foreign church: “if ye two graoisíns aren’t out of dis yard in 2 minutes, I’ll pump yere holes with LEAD.”
Another innovative element is the immortalisation of this Dónall Dubh, who is no saint but rather a folkloric figure who also extensively serves in this collection as a metaphor for depression.
Meanwhile, Ó Súilleabháin modestly disclaims all claim to authorship in Oilithreacht wherein he ascribes to a residency in Cill Rialaigh the epiphany that a poet's voice is not quite his or hers, but that of the people.
