When You Sit Down with Sisters of Wisdom...

In advance of International Women’s Day,

Treacy O'Connor

invited

Jennifer Murphy

and me to sit down for a “let’s see what flows” conversation we called Seeking the Sources of Wisdom.

And, oh the wisdom and beauty that came through. (Can I say that about a conversation I was part of? Yes, I think it’s right to name magic when it happens, even when you’re one of the trinity adding to the cauldron.)

I am so grateful to know these women, and to walk with them. United by a deep passion for the land and spirit of Ireland, each of us has our own deep well of expertise. We’re held by many overlapping circles of connection and share a many readers, listeners, and community members.

During our conversation, I mentioned the inspiration of the Irish women poets who offered me a taste of the divine feminine I was so hungry for as an American teenager.

Jen referenced an idea from one poet in particualr, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, who speaks of the way that the Irish language lives in all of us, even if we weren’t raised in the Gaeltacht.

In this video from Creative Ireland, Nuala says:

We are bilingual, though not always conscious of it. Dealing with this all the time gives us this freedom that we could not have if we had only one language. I think Irish creativity comes from this unique language within us.

After our Substack Live, one viewer asked me where to get started with Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill’s work. My answer was “anywhere!”

But the question got me thinking, and brought me back to the well-loved books that were the backbone of much of my academic work. And that brought me to a poem from Pharoah’s Daughter, “Ceist na Teangan,” translated as “The Language Issue” by Paul Muldoon.

As I return to my studies of the Irish language, and as I find my passion for the feminine expressions of the divine blazing brighter than ever, both in Irish myth and in art and cultures from across time and space, it feels like this is the perfect poem to offer in this moment.

Ceist na Teangan

Cuirim mo dhóchas ar snámh
i mbáidín teangan
faoi mar a leagfá naíonán
i gcliabhán
a bheadh fite fuaite
de dhuilleoga feileastraim
is bitiúmin agus pic
bheith cuimilte lena thóin
ansan é a leagadh síos
i measc na ngiolcach
is coigeal na mban sí
le taobh na habhann,
féachaint n’fheadaraís
cá dtabharfaidh an sruth é,
féachaint, dála Mhaoise,
an bhfóirfidh iníon Fharoinn?

---

The Language Issue

I place my hope on the water
in this little boat
of the language, the way a body might put
an infant
in a basket of intertwined
iris leaves,
its underside proofed
with bitumen and pitch,
then set the whole thing down amidst
the sedge
and bulrushes by the edge
of a river
only to have it borne hither and thither,
not knowing where it might end up;
in the lap, perhaps,
of some Pharaoh’s daughter.

And deepest thanks to

Patrica Rose

and

Amanda Verdery Young

for tagging me as part of the IWD Siren Songs Project, put together by

Laura Durban

and others.

May the spirit of this project swell far beyond this single date in the month of March and bring all of humanity into a greater expression and experience of compassion, balance, and healing.