During the weekend of visitors I am asked many different questions about my personal history and inspiration. I try to explain about shape, surface, and weight; how I place all my hope in these small vessels of clay. I call up all the language I can muster to give clues to the essence that is beyond language.
Cuirim mo dhóchas ar snámh
i mbáidín teangan …
I place my hope on the water
in this little boat
of the language …
–Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, from Pharaoh’s Daughter, translated by Paul Muldoon, (Gallery Press & Wake Forest University Press)