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Silence! - A meditation of the 1950s poem ‘silencio’ by Eugen Gomringer silence silence silence silence silence silence silence silence silence silence silence silence silence silence It’s rather like an abstract painting, a Mondrian, except that it is a word, a word that we know. Silence! A word we can feel. And we can feel the space left in the middle of the poem, a space which conveys the poem’s message, its essence. We can feel the silence. There’s space on both sides of the poem as well, space above and space below, that space which haiku both seeks and creates. The concrete poem asks the same thing of the reader as does the haiku – to complete it. Fill in the silence. With our own silence. Concrete poetry was all the rage in the fifties, in Switzerland, Brazil, Japan and elsewhere. Strange that it didn’t make an impact on poetry in Irish (or English) in Ireland, given our love of words. Some of the most famous concrete poems are no more than a word. Concrete words, so to speak. I’ve been promising myself for nearly forty years to have a crack at the genre and maybe I will. As far back as 1953, Gomringer sensed that words were changing, the world was changing, languages were changing and prolixity had had its day. Did he see the coming of tabloids – not to mention twitter? Such changes would not pose a danger to poetry, he believed. There was nothing wrong with headlines, mantras, slogans, abbreviations. Concrete poetry would be an international language, beyond the notion of the national, and as graspable as a road sign or a popular scientific formula. You could say he saw the rise of the USA and the IRA, the ESB and – OMG – the EU. He probably saw texting as inevitable. He was a Bolivian, living in Switzerland, and was familiar with many languages, Spanish and German among them. He saw the coming of globalisation and the death of languages which this would bring (as it has). He was quite serious about his work, playful though it may seem to some of us. He insisted on our engagement with the word (as opposed to grammar, style, voice, idiom and all the rest of it). Among the many writers influenced by Gomringer and the Concrete Poetry Movement was the curious Dane, Vagn Steen. He had this idea of publishing books with perforated pages so that you could easily tear out the poems you didn’t like. Irish publishers (in both languages) could take a leaf from his book. Write it Yourself was one of his classics. It consisted of blank pages and was an overnight success. Back to Gomringer’s classic again, this time in German: schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen It works on many levels, including the spiritual. Does it bring us back to our tender years when so much had to be learned by rote, repetition of the ABC and numbers and syllables that may not have meant all that much to us at the time, Church Latin, riddles, rhymes and prayers? CIÚNAS! SILENCE! How often did we hear that at home or at school? Our deepest selves are in that white space in the middle of the poem, our core and our mystery – not so much a part of us (as words are part of us, say) but the totality. Gomringer believed that a concrete poem was a poem in itself not a poem about something. Agreed.« Return to listings
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Ciúnas - A meditation on the poem ‘silencio’ by Eugen Gomringer Ba sna caogaidí luatha a chum Eugen Gomringer an tost-dán coincréiteach, silencio. Is mar seo a fhéachann sé sa Ghaeilge: ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas ciúnas Ar shlí d’fhéadfá a rá go bhfuil pictiúr teibí cruthaithe aige dúinn ach ní teibí ar fad atá sé, ar ndóigh, mar go dtuigimid an focal atá ann. Ciúnas! Mothaímid an focal. Agus mothaímid an spás a d’fhág sé i lár an dáin chun brí an fhocail a chur in iúl. Mothaímid an ciúnas. Tá spás bán ar dhá thaobh an dáin chomh maith agus, arís, faoina bhun agus os a chionn, an spás céanna a shantaíonn an haiku. Éilíonn an dán coincréiteach an rud céanna ar an léitheoir is a éilíonn an haiku – is é sin, an dán a chríochnú, bunaithe ar an leid atá tugtha duit. An tost a líonadh. Lenár dtost féin. Bhí an-rath ar an bhfilíocht choincréiteach ag an am, san Eilvéis, sa Bhrasaíl, sa tSeapáin agus in áiteanna eile ar fud an domhain. Is iontach nár chleacht na Gaeil é mar is spéis linn focail, go mór; go leor leor de na dánta coincréiteacha is cáiliúla amuigh níl iontu ach focail. Focail choincréiteacha, mar a déarfá. Táim á rá liom féin le dhá scór bliain anuas go gcaithfidh mé tabhairt faoin ealaín seo luath nó mall. Tabharfad. Thuig Gomringer chomh fada siar le 1953 go raibh athruithe ag teacht ar ar an bhfocal, ar theangacha, ar fhriotal, go mbeadh an ghontacht i réim sula i bhfad. An bhfaca sé an nuachtán tablóideach ag teacht, an bhfaca sé twitter ag teacht? Ní baol don fhilíocht iad na hathruithe seo atá ag teacht ar theangacha, dar leis. Caithfear leas a bhaint as ceannlínte agus sluaghairmeacha. Teanga idirnáisiúnta (nó, go deimhin, osnáisiúnta/ for-náisiúnta) a bheadh san fhilíocht choincréiteach, arsa Gomringer, agus í chomh sothuigthe le comharthaí bóthair nó foirmlí eolaíochta coitianta! Chonaic sé litreacha ag teacht in áit focail: cuimhnigh ar na giorrúcháin go léir a bhfuil taithí againn orthu: USA, IRA, EU, ESB, OMG etc. agus an foclóir nua a úsáideann lucht téacsála. Ar ndóigh, Bolavach ab ea Gomringer agus cónaí air san Eilvéis mar sin bhí cúlra idirnáisiúnta aige agus scata teangacha ar a thoil aige, an Spáinnis agus an Ghearmáinis ina measc. Chonaic sé an domhandú ag teacht agus bás teangacha, bás a bheadh mar thoradh ar chrapadh an domhain. Bhí Gomringer an-dáiríre faoin méid a bhí ar siúl aige. Ní spraoi amháin a bhí sa dán coincréiteach ach iarracht mhacánta ar an gcaidreamh atá againn le focail agus leis an teanga féin a thástáil, a phromhadh agus a chur in iúl, an bhéim ar an bhfocal seachas ar ghramadach agus ar chomhréir. Duine a ndeachaigh an fhilíocht choincréiteach i bhfeidhm air ná an Danmhargach Vagn Steen a raibh plean aige leabhair a eisiúint a mbeadh leathanaigh phollta iontu a chuirfeadh ar chumas an léitheora dánta nár thaitin leis a stracadh amach as na leabhair gan dua! Arbh fhiú d’fhoilsitheoirí Gaeilge cuimhneamh ar a leithéid de sheift? D’fhoilsigh Steen leabhar dar teideal Scríobh Féin É. Bhí ort féin an fhilíocht a scríobh. Ní raibh sa leabhar ach leathanaigh bhána. Díoladh amach é! Féachaimis arís ar an dán thuas ag Gomringer, an uair seo sa Ghearmáinis: schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen schweigen Oibríonn sé ar leibhéil éagsúla, an leibhéal spioradálta san áireamh. An meabhraíonn sé laethanta ár n-óige dúinn nuair a bhíodh síor-athrá ar siúl, an aibítir is nithe eile á gcur de ghlan mheabhair againn, siollaí gan bhrí san áireamh ach go mb’fhéidir go raibh brí leo ar a shon san, Laidin na hEaglaise, dúfhocail, paidreacha agus eile? Cé chomh minic is a dúradh ‘Ciúnas!’ linn ag baile nó ar scoil? Tá an chuid is doimhne dínn féin sa spás bán sin i lár an dáin, an chuid is lárnaí agus is mistéirí dínn – nach ‘cuid’ dínn é i gceart (faoi mar is cuid dínn iad focail, abair) ach an t-iomlán. Maíonn Gomringer gur dán is ea an dán coincréiteach, dán ann féin seachas dán faoi rud éigin. Tá an ceart aige. Nach bhfuil?« Return to listings