Opening a Field

Publication Instance Details #2884

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	Displacement/Forced Migration Terrorism/War on Terror
Irish Context	Minority/refugee rights (Ireland) Other
Languages	English
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Anthology
Notes	The speaker of this poem describes meeting an Iraqi research scientist on the train. They discuss aspects of her research, as well as the myth of Cessair, the first woman in Ireland, purported to have originated from Mesopotamia (where Iraq, her homeland, currently lies). The journey of the Iraqi scientist and her displacement and asylum in Ireland are reflected through the story of Cessair, who similarly travelled far for sanctuary. There are pointed references to terrorism as well in the poem, in terms of the scientist's research into nano-magnets, which kill cancerous cells, attaching themselves 'like terrorists'. There is a play on words between different meanings of 'field' in the poem and title.