Deora do Mheiriceá

Publication Instance Details #674

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	War HR & Weapons of Mass Destruction (incl. nuclear) Terrorism/War on Terror
War / Genocide Referenced	War: Second World War War: Korean War War: Vietnam War War: Bosnian War War: Global War on Terrorism War: War in Afghanistan War: Iraq War and Insurgency
Languages	Irish
Genre	Concrete Poem
Medium	Print Collection
Paratext Text	do Thomas Rain Crowe
Notes	The speaker of the poem describes some of American cultural and military history: cultural icons such as Elvis, Uncle Sam, and Marilyn Monroe are shown as pitiful figures, while American war exploits are mentioned (the nuclear bombing of Japan; the destruction of Pyong Yang; the napalm raining down on Vietnam; the bombing of Iraq and Afghanistan during the War on Terror; and the bombing of Yugoslavia). American global brands are mentioned, such as Coca Cola, Levis, Heinz, and Nike. The speaker concludes the poem by describing someone jumping from the Twin Towers during the 9/11 attacks. Overall, the speaker takes a poor view of American warmongering and greed, with the scene of the falling man a sign of America's overall failure - the 'eagle without wings'. The poem is written in a semi-concrete format, with some sections highlighted, containing larger fonts, or emboldened or italicised fonts.