
“Resurrection” published in ‘The Parting’ [ISBN 9780956141279]
When, in the late 1980s, I emigrated to Spain my ability to compose gradually dried up. Living and working in a non-English speaking environment while acquiring a new language mitigated against it I suppose. To make up for the inability to write new poems in English I began to translate some of my existing poems into Spanish, and even penned a couple of originals in that language. After little over a year, however, I ceased to write altogether.
This state of affairs continued long after I had returned from Spain to live in Ireland. In fact my writing drought lasted all of sixteen years, being finally broken in mysterious dream-inspired fashion that brought forth the poem “Resurrection” almost fully-formed.