LIKE SNOW THAT DOESN'T KNOW IF IT BELONGS TO THE EARTH OR THE AIR

Another reminder of the extent of poetry and arts on public display in Galway.

This mural and poem is on a large gable wall facing the Newtownsmith car park – what was a very bland gable.

The return on investment for the painting of the wall and placing the words of the poem is huge in terms of (this) public appreciation.

Thinking of all the suitable bland and graffiti-marked locations in Cork does disappoint – personally and with the inactions of Cork City Council.

“HOME

I lived at the edge of the town
Like a streetlamp whose light bulb
no one ever replaces.
Cobwebs held the walls together,
and sweat our clasped hands.
I hid my teddy bear
in holes in crudely built stone walls
saving him from dreams.


Day and night I made the threshold come alive
returning like a bee that
always returns to the previous flower.
It was a time of peace when I left home:


the bitten apple was not bruised,
on the letter a stamp with an old abandoned house.


From birth I’ve migrated to quiet places
and voids have clung beneath me
like snow that doesn’t know if it belongs
to the earth or to the air”


 Nikola Madzirov

 (Translated by Peggy Reid, Magdalena Horvat & Adam Reed)