Local poet revisits role of Westmeath role in Táin epic
Work by Westmeath poet Jackie Gorman in response to tapestries celebrating Táin Bó Cúailnge, the Cattle Raid of Cooley, has been published in a new booklet.
The booklet is part of Threading the Táin, an inter-county community visual arts project showcasing five tapestries created in celebration of the epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, the Cattle Raid of Cooley.
Funded by Creative Ireland and produced by An Táin Arts Centre in association with Creative Spark, each tapestry depicts scenes from the revered ancient epic that relate to the five counties mentioned in the Táin – Westmeath, Longford, Roscommon, Meath and Louth. The textile artist for the Westmeath panel was Claire Delabre who runs Handmade Design Studio on Mount Street, Mullingar.
As a follow-on to that project, a poet from each county in the tale was commissioned to write a poem in response to a county tapestry, and Jackie Gorman was asked for Westmeath.
She said: “The Westmeath panel depicts a battle scene with Queen Maedh and King Ailill mac Máta and Cú Chulainn and the men of Ulster and other characters from the epic tale such as Nemain, the goddess of war.
“It includes locations near Ballymore, Rosemount and the Hill of Uisneach. It was an honour to be asked to write this poem and be part of a project which celebrates this great epic of Irish mythology which is often called ‘The Irish Iliad’. Before we had Game of Thrones and the like, we had this great epic, which still makes readers gasp at its passion and battles.”
The Westmeath panel depicts the Great Battle that took place between the men of Ireland and the men of Ulster. Looming from the west is the goddess of war, Nemain, accompanied by a flock of crows. Directly below the battle scene is Queen Maedh.
At the top of the panel, the fire on the hill of Uisneach is lit so as to be visible from all around. The commissioned poem focused on the perspective of Nemain and the flock of crows in the story, reflecting the shapeshifting that is a frequent motif in Irish myths.
‘Hunting for nuts, meat and death. I am circling overhead with my eye on the still eye of a fallen warrior. I fly to the scent of carnage, corpses on the bloody battlefield. Clashing metal, sword song. No herbs, healing plants or charms can salve this frenzy.’
The poetry commissioned for this project was launched with an illustrated booklet in Toradh 2 Gallery in Kells and further details are at Creative Ireland.