Gerry Loose: from The Great Book of the Woods: “Palimpsests & Riddles” (after the Ogham)

[From the edition newly published by Xylem Books, an imprint of Corbel Stone Press, 2020.  See the author’s note, below, for more on Loose’s engagement with the ancient Ogham runes.]

Knockshanawee souterrain

a trick of the neck

is yew to pine

a trick of lungs

is pine to alder

a ruse of the voice track

is alder to yew

a trick of love

is brother to brother

a trick of darklight divine

is twin to twin

Knockshanawee souterrain riddle

it is cold

is there frost

there are thorns

are they pricking

there is a resolution

is it legion

there is clamour

is there silence

the wood is ancient

is it withered

there are crypts

is it an effort

Ballyknock short discourse

right to the marrow

flame & steel

elegant & forthright

oldest & coldest

felloe & tang

vanguard & bevy

pine & groan

swaddle & mass grave

Ballyknock riddle

sing us thorn

cleave us friend

not complaint

not rebuttal

soothe us horse

smooth us work

not effort

in soil

shelter us hind

sing us strength

flesh & grass

twining

Ballyknock letters swimming

hazel & pine then oak

start with these

their twists & torques

sisters to birch

they are the red boast

of sibling women

calling & scolding

sparks from speckled fire

Ballyknock from the lungs

the ash field

the oldest energy

the path of the voice

iron rod of breath

the driving of slaves

a proverb of slaughter

one third wheel

one third weapon

begin your answer, pine

call your nut-marrow, hazel

Ballyknock riddle

what thorn

& who’s a friend of lesion

what work is smooth

& who helps geldings

what guards

& who spills

what is simplicity

& who delights in kine

what lives cold

& who cultivates plants

what pain

& who replies

Cloghane Carhane

was she a friend

women fight

here among the ivy

now I begin to see    lust

in the ivy

women fighting

bees swarming

now we’re all angry

should be

taking stock

minding cattle

was she a friend

thief of the grove of silence

lust

drains blood

boils my blood

was she a friend

Cloghane Carhane

underneath his name

carpenter’s work

it starts to make sense

hazel

it starts to make sense

alder

the most withered wood

the job in hand

clarity

cutting

the highest of bushes

ivy

nettles

the most decayed wood

it answers muster

the elm

the apple

forest & orchard

& the hazel

Abernethy

coltsfoot the apple that suckles

sun hoof the vine that strangles

sun horse the yew that sickens

Abernethy

    quick        gentle

    so hard to quell

                  

                       elder

the hind   the hunt

               quenched

                       elder

Church of the 3 Holy Brethren

Lochgoilhead

little saint of whitethorn

little douser of wolf spark

welcome to the burial mounds

dear confessor of blood-red berries

sweet dweller of beehive cell

oaks make good gallow-trees

my heart

meagre

Church of the 3 Holy Brethren

Lochgoilhead

bees have their own pollen auguries

there are thirteen

of blanching night

of swarming death

of chilling earth

of propagating plants

of lustrous herb

of the infirmity of tone

& six contained

in the thicket of letters

author’s note.  Ogham is a rune-like script of the early Irish language found on standing stones made between the 4th and 8th centuries CE. It comprises strokes across or to either side of a central stem line. Each stroke now represents a letter of the Gaelic Beith-luis-nin ‘alphabet’. It is found on monoliths mainly in Ireland, with some in Scotland, and some dual-text ogham/Latin stones in Wales. There are also inscriptions other than the monolithic – on tools or in caves – but these are rare. 

There are numerous myths concerning the script’s origins: that it was invented to keep secrets from the Roman conquerors of nearby Britain; that it was similarly invented to keep secrets from the lands that Ireland was later to annexe as Dal Riada (the islands and mainland of western Scotland); that it was invented by an obscure 4th century CE Christian sect. It is also said in some quarters that it was handed down by, or named for, Ogmos, the Celtic god of eloquence.

There are many methods of interpreting ogham. The script itself is steeped in the secrecy of the literate over the non-literate. It is therefore always regarded as the property of the high poets, the early medieval fili of Ireland, who would spend many years memorising up to fifty ways of reading or deciphering it. The poetic possibilities are therefore manifold.

. . . . . . .

The poems here are therefore versions, creative re-inventions and co-creations, made with other poets and translators who lived from the 4th to the 14th centuries CE.

[N.B. Much more of this commentary is included in Loose’s very useful introduction to his book, and additional excerpts can be found elsewhere on Poems and Poetics. (j.r.)]