Dia Ghóma

Publication Instance Details #663

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	Displacement/Forced Migration Genocide War
War / Genocide Referenced	War: Somali Civil War War: Bosnian War Genocide: Holocaust Genocide: Rwandan Genocide Genocide: Bosnian Genocide
Irish Context	Specific Irish place or place-name mentioned Great Famine (Ireland) The Troubles/Sectarian Tensions (Ireland) Other
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Paratext Text	Samhradh 1994
Notes	The poet-speaker of the poem reflects on the infamous Goma refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to which thousands of Hutu moderates and Tutsi refugees fled during the Rwandan Genocide. There was a lack of food, water, and sanitation and disease (such as cholera) spread quickly. Reflecting on his role as a poet, as well as on the existence of a God that would allow such atrocities to occur, the poet-speaker acknowledges the peacefulness of his surroundings and his powerlessness to help the situation in Goma, except for writing poetry. At the conclusion of the poem, he connects the merciless God that has allowed Rwanda to fall into war with other wars and atrocities: the Holocaust; the Bosnian conflict/genocide; the Somalian conflict; the Troubles; the Great Famine, and the loss of life in Annaghdown.