Anbhá

Publication Instance Details #629

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	War Racism/anti-Semitism/Sectarianism Genocide HR & Natural Disasters State Violence
War / Genocide Referenced	War: Bosnian War Genocide: Bosnian Genocide
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	This poem describes the existential panic of the speaker of the poem, who is dealing with the trials and horrors of the world. The speaker mentions several events, some named explicitly, some not: a woman is shot; a mother buries her child in a dry, drought-ridden landscape; lorries with supplies Sarajevo are mentioned (the year of poem's publication coincides with the Siege of Sarajevo); The Los Angeles riots of 1992 are mentioned (spurred by the brutal beating of a black man by white police officers). Overwhelmed by the state of the world, the speaker describes these events as a rush of water or tide that cannot be held back. This is again referenced at the end of the poem with the nod to the story of King Knut (or Canute) of England, who deliberately showed his courtiers the impotence of kings compared to God by standing on the shore and commanding the tides to stop. The poem is the speaker's recognition that attempting to stop the death and suffering in the world is also futile.