I n t h e b e g i n n i n g , p a r t I I
T r o i b l ó i d í n a S a s a n a c h
T h e P e d a g o g y o f C o n f l i c t
Do mo PD, le grá mór mór.
With love, respect and thanks to Susan
McEwen.
A Reflection on Shaking Hands
Little did I know on the day I shook the hand of Queen Elizabeth that someone I had never met would be so inspired to pen a poem in recognition of that much publicised event. When my friend and colleague Mitchel McLaughlin drew my attention to the poem I was amazed that someone should feel so moved to compose such a wonderful poem as ‘Shaking Hands’. I was intrigued − who was this person Pádraig Ó Tuama of whom I knew nothing?
Some weeks later First Minister Peter Robinson and myself were invited to speak at the Peace Centre at Corrymeela, Co. Antrim. In my speech I mentioned the poem ‘Shaking Hands’. Imagine my surprise when a few minutes later I was introduced to Pádraig who, unknown to me, was among the assembled guests. I expressed my thanks and appreciation for his ability to encapsulate so effectively the symbolic significance of two people shaking hands.
I have a great admiration for poets, the works of Seamus Heaney, Patrick Kavanagh, Michael Longley and John Montague line my bookshelves. People, land, conflicts, life, love, death, hunger, reconciliation, equality, war, greed, law and loss all come under the poet’s microscope for analysis and outcomes. Pádraig’s poem ‘Shaking Hands’ challenges all of us on the hugely important matters of equality and leadership. Without leadership there would have been no peace process in the North of Ireland. Without equality there can be no justice anywhere.
Pádraig’s latest work continues to challenge, provoke and advocate that a better world is not just possible but essential. Honesty, empathy and compassion are the hallmarks of this work from a poet who accepts that he too has a responsibility to help make the world a fairer and better place. Maith thú a Phádraig.
Martin McGuinness
Deputy First Minister
Stormont Assembly
June 2013
Preface
Many of the poems in this book were written as responses to hearing the stories of people who lived through troubles. The poem titles have spaces between each letter as a way of indicating the importance of silence, listening, grief and the things beyond words.
Pádraig Ó Tuama
T h e w o r d b e c a m e s t r e t c h e d
a n d c r e p t a m o n g u s
It is the tense vocation of language
to contain and constrain meaning.
Some words are better than others −
‘alas’ sounds nothing like keening.
Some words deepen another −
to be troubled is to be found bereaving.
It is the tense vocation of language
to contain and constrain meaning.
[ t h e ] n o r t h [ e r n ] [ o f ] i r e l a n d
It is both a dignity and
a difficulty
to live between these
names,
perceiving politics
in the syntax of
the state.
And at the end of the day,
the reality is
that whether we
change
or whether we stay
the same
these questions will
remain.
Who are we
to be
with one
another?
and
How are we
to be
with one
another?
and
What to do
with all those memories
of all those funerals?
and
What about those present
whose past was blasted
far beyond their
future?
I wake.
You
