Antinuclear Poem

Publication Instance Details #1856

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	Health HR & Weapons of Mass Destruction (incl. nuclear)
Irish Context	Specific Irish place or place-name mentioned
Languages	English
Original Language	Irish
Original Poem	Dán Frithnúicléach
Original Author	Pádraig Mac Fhearghusa
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Anthology
Notes	This poem is an anti-nuclear poem. Likely to have been inspired by Chernobyl, based on its original date of publication only two years after the nuclear explosion there, the speaker of the poem conjures disturbing images of human bodily fluids (such as the Communion Host in a pool of vomit), and shows snapshots of different areas of the world, perhaps in an effort to showcase the spread of the nuclear radiation after Chernobyl. There are images of the sun being obscured by bodily fluids, and at the end of the poem, the conclusion of the speaker is that despite the 'mixing of spit and dust', the atom cannot be put back, and the blinded man's eyes cannot be restored. This is likely a reference to the healing of the blind man of Bethsaida in the Bible. Jesus used spittle to rub upon the blind man's eyes, which restored his sight. The poem is also written in the form of a prayer, with a refrain asking God to listen to the pleas of the speaker. This poem was also translated by Thomas Rain Crowe.