October 5 - October 11, 1995

He collapsed beside his carpet-slippers

Without a murmur, shot through the head

By a shivering boy who wandered in

Before they could turn the television down

Or tidy away the supper dishes.

To the children, to a bewildered wife,

I think 'Sorry Missus' was what he said.

--From "Wounds" by Michael Longley

Michael Longley, poet of Belfast, has long written of the Troubles of Northern Ireland. Of Protestant stock, he comes from the Unionist side of the centuries-old rift, the faction that passionately clings to union with England. But Longley, who will give two presentations in Tucson this weekend, is not a partisan. Instead, in his mournful verses, he pleads for an end to the killing on both sides. His short poem "The Design" reads in its entirety:

Sometimes the quilts were white for weddings, the design

Made up of stitches and the shadows cast by stitches.

And the quilts for funerals? How do you sew the night?

Longley will give a reading of his poetry Saturday night and a "meditation" and discussion of the Troubles on Sunday night. His visit is a highlight of a scholarly meeting of the American Conference for Irish studies to be held all weekend long at the University of Arizona. The theme of the conference, says Professor Ann Weekes, director of the Humanities Program, will be "Ireland: Moving Toward Healing."

The poet was invited, Weekes says, not only because of his acclaimed work, but because he is a peace activist who has tried to persuade his countrymen and women of the virtues of cultural diversity. The poet has written that it "would be inhuman if (a poet) did not respond to tragic events in his own community, and a poor artist if he did not seek to endorse that response imaginatively." A recent poem, "Ceasefire," composed on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Irish Republican Army ceasefire, was read over National Public Radio in this country. Like much of his work, it recasts the Irish woes as a Greek tragedy. It begins as Achilles and Priam gaze on the corpse of Priam's son Hector, whom Achilles has just killed:

Put in mind of his own father and moved to tears/

Achilles took him by the hand and pushed the old king/

Gently away, but Priam curled up at his feet and/

Wept with him until their sadness filled the building/

"Longley's training is in the classics," says Weekes. "In his poems about Achilles and Hector there are beautiful resonances with the Irish conflict."

Weekes, who teaches 20th- century Irish literature and art at the UA, this summer got a firsthand look at Northern Ireland after the ceasefire. A native of County Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland, Weekes was in Belfast for an academic conference.

"The changes since the ceasefire were incredible," she says. "There used to be soldiers all over the streets, armed with guns. There were armored cars, like tanks, even on country roads. There used to be huge barriers at the border, when you crossed to go north, notices about bombs everywhere. It was pretty grim.

"Now there are no soldiers, no armored cars. It was wonderful, the weather was gorgeous. People went all out to make us welcome. The friendliness of the population was extraordinary. Young people have wakened into an existence they never knew before."

Right now, she adds, peace negotiations are at a standstill. The British government has insisted the IRA give up its weapons before talks begin; the IRA says such a concession ought to be discussed in talks.

"I'd like to see talking now," says Weekes. "There's a potential for real problems."

Then, of course, the soldiers would be back and the nation would once again be pockmarked, as the song says, by armored cars and tanks and guns come to take away its sons. And the Irish would return to struggling to stay alive, as Longley puts it in "The Camp-Fires," in an Ireland become a no man's land and the killing fields.

Poet Michael Longley will give a free reading from his work at 8 p.m. Saturday, October 7, in Room 150 of the Harvill Building, on the UA campus at Second Street and Olive Road. He will deliver a free talk called A Meditation and Elegies about Political Violence at 6 p.m. Sunday, October 8, in the same room. For more information call 621-8630 during office hours. The UA Main library is staging a three-day exhibition called A Walk Through Ireland. On display will be rare Irish books, including an elaborate facsimile edition of the Book of Kells, a first edition of James Joyce's Ulysses and a copy of the Book of Durrow, an illuminated collection of gospels. Library hours are 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday. For more information call 621-7440.
--Margaret Regan

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