3rd November

Publication Instance Details #2784

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies War
Irish Context	Other
Languages	English
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Anthology
Notes	This poem reacts the passage of time and how things change. There is a reference to 'the mushrooms locked up in our shed' - a nod to Mahon's poem, 'A Disused Shed In County Wexford', which can be read as a poem with a strong human rights message. The speaker also makes reference to colonization of Palestine by Israel and its disappearance as a nation from Google Maps, and the turning of aspects of the Islamic world into 'Greek' ones - i.e. falsafa into philosophos. This could be a critique of the disregard shown to Islamic science, philosophy, and the golden age of Islam in favour of the 'Westernized' i.e. 'Greek' hegemony. There are mythological references to Ithaca as well (The Odyssey), as well as to Zeus, God, El Shadi, and Allah. The poem also contains notes on conflict, war rape, and the Dunnes Stores girls' refusal to stock 'Israeli product'. This might be the speaker's reaction to how Dunnes workers boycotted South African products in the 1980s, yet still stock Israeli products to this day.