by Colin Ryan
Srúill
Srúill dhorcha
í breac le solas guagach
anuas thar dhúcharraig
ag sclogaireacht
le guth nach dtuigtear
ach in insint uisce
Dark stream, shot with moving light, falling past black rock, chuckling with a voice only understood in the utterance of water.
Eolas
B’eo duit lá na féile
áilteoirí is áilleagán intreach
is lámhchleasaí ag coinneáil
gréine is gealaí san aer
is cótaí folamha
ar fán i measc na tána
ar lorg ruda a ligeadh ar lár
ag tóraíocht eolas na colainne
Here is the holiday, clowns and a merry-go-round, a juggler keeping sun and moon aloft, and empty coats wandering in the crowd, seeking something lost, looking for a body.
Ní heol duit
D’fhiafraigh sí san amhrán
arbh eol duit cad is grá ann
is d’fhreagra níor chuala
is lean an domhan dá chúrsa
ag rince leis i hallaí
ag achrann is ag gáire
ag siúl go geal i salachar
ag cumadh bréag is dánta
She asked in the song if you knew what love was but didn’t hear your answer, and the world went on its way, dancing in halls, brawling and laughing, walking brightly in mud, composing lies and poems.
Melbourne’s Colin Ryan is a short story writer and a poet who contributes regularly to Tinteán. The Museum of Literature Ireland says that ‘Colin Ryan is a unique writer based in Melbourne, who has chosen Irish as his literary language and gives it a unique Australian twist. He was raised in the south-east rural Australia, where his Irish ancestors first settle in the 1860s. settled but now lives in Melbourne.’ His published poetry collections are Corraí na Nathrach and Rogha. Ceo Bruithne and Teachtaireacht are his short story collections available from litriocht.com
Tinteán 