Athlone poet revisits Westmeath's role in the great epic The Táin
Work by Athlone poet Jackie Gorman (pictured) in response to tapestries celebrating the epic 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 – Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath, Meath and Louth. The textile artist for the Westmeath panel was Claire Delabre.
As a follow on to this project, a poet from each county in the epic tale was commissioned to write a poem in response to a county tapestry, with Jackie Gorman asked to write a poem in response to the Westmeath tapestry.
She commented: “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 Medh.
At the very top of the panel, the fire on the hill of Uisneach is lit so as to be visible from all around. The commissioned poem focussed on the perspective of Nemain and the flock of crows in this 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.”