Selected Books of Poetry by Diarmuid Johnson
Curach Bhán Verlag, Berlin 2013, 80 pp
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CIC Éire 2004,114 pp
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Eikon, Bucharest 2013 70pp
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Curach Bhán, Berlin 2013, 100 pp
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An tÉan agus Dánta Eile / Der Vogel und andere Gedichte
Curach Bhán Verlag, Berlin 2013, 80 pp
The selected poems in this volume are drawn from a body of work written in Irish over the last twenty five years. The journey begins in the west of Ireland in the late eighties, continues through the contintent – France, Germany and Poland – and returns to the insular world in Wales shortly after the beginning of the new Milennium. Much of the work is an exploration of man’s relationship with his wider universal environment than commentary on or reaction to events or trends in a given location, whether the Gaeltacht, Ireland in general, or elsewhere. Certain other ideas in the volume are poetic in essence rather than being a matter of aesthetics or persuasion.
The Woods are Growing Younger / Pădurile întineresc
Eikon, Cluj, Romania 2013, 67 pp (Romanian translation by E. Ivancu)
The Woods are Growing Younger was written in Romania and Wales in August and September 2012. The work arose in reaction to the silence that surrounds parts of the history of Europe in the 20th century. During extended periods the author spent in Poland, Germany and Romania from 2007 until the present time, this silence, not a refusal to speak, but part of a human solution to experiences that belie expression, became something he was compelled to visit and to interpret. It was the silence of the tenacious dream where Celanesque wordlessness may be found searching for form, for clarity and for respite.
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Súil Saoir
Cló Iar-Chonnachta 2004, 117 pp
Is leabhar faoi leith é Súil Saoir ina mbaineann an t-údar leas ann as smaointe na linne seo agus as éigse na seanaimsire, ionas gur ceangal idir an sean agus an nua atá sa saothar. Ceistnítear ann an dlúthbhaint atá idir teanga na Gaeilge agus gluaiseacht an náisiúnachais, agus cuireann an t-údar roimhe cíoradh a dhéanamh ar cheisteanna a bhaineann le cinniúint an duine, agus leis an chaoi a dtéann idir thír, phobal, theanga agus dhúchas i bhfeidhm orainn. Tá lorg na Gaeltachta go láidir ar an gcnuasach, agus lorg na hiasachta chomh maith.
Súil Saoir combines several characteristics that make it a unique and challenging collection. Written in a polished, lyrical idiom, it draws on both the medieval and modern Gaelic traditions, bridging a divide in a way seldom accomplished in the past. The poetry also questions the traditional association between nationalism and the Irish language, offering a fresh and universal perspective on questions of existence and destiny, and on the way the individual interacts with his environment.
Quirang
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Another Language
Motivex, Poland 2009, 193 pp
Another Language is written in Irish, English, and Welsh. The poems in Irish derive from the period 2005 to 2008. The English poems span a longer period from about 1998 until 2008, though certain of them were drafted much earlier. With the exception of Cân Trystan, the poems in Welsh belong to the years 2003-2006 during which time the author worked at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Some poems included in Another Language first appeared in the pages of An Guth, Stoney Thursday, Fortnight, Transcript and The Cork Literary Review. The work in this book assumed its present form as a result of time spent at the Cove Park centre for artists in Argyle, Scotland in April 2008.
Another Language may be ordered from the author. Please see Contact.