Bealtaine 2003

Publication Instance Details #410

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	War HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies
War / Genocide Referenced	War: Second Intifada
Irish Context	Specific Irish place or place-name mentioned Other
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Paratext Text	In imeacht cúig lá, 15-20 Bealtaine 2003, rinne fórsaí Iosrael scrios iomlán ar fheirmeacha de chuid na bPalaistíneach in Beit Hanoun i Stráice Gaza is leagadar na mílte crann óráistí.
Notes	The paratext gives insightful information to understanding this poem, describing that it was written in the wake of the Israeli destruction of farms and homes in Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip in 2003. From 15th-30th May 2003, the town was held under siege and agricultural and civil land razed by Israeli forces. The poet-speaker of this poem describes her own surroundings in Ireland, in her fruit orchard. This is contrasted with the utter devastation visited upon the agricultural land of Palestine by the Israeli forces. The speaker recalls days of her youth eating oranges from Jaffa, Hebron, and Jenin, and imagining that they were like the fruits from the Garden of Paradise. Comparing the more meagre yield of Irish orchards, the speaker describes the day crying tears for Palestine on the fruits in her garden.