Earlier this year, I was absolutely delighted when my poem 'Death's Domain' was published by Aimsir Press in their 'Samhain' edition.
'Death's Domain' was a poem I crafted specifically for Aimsir Press after seeing that they were looking for submissions on the topic of Samhain. I had a specific idea in mind and set about creating it.
The poem is themed around the folklore and Celtic legends of the festival of Samhain and was written in a strict poetic form.
I have been experimenting with form based poetry over the last few years, as a result of a lockdown project I started with two of my poet friends David Ryan and Alan Murphy . We were meeting regularly online and a random conversation about univocalic poetry (poetry using just one vowel) led to us setting a challenge to write a univocalic villanelle. We found writing to such strict constraints to be a fascinating way of creating poetry and we haven’t stopped since then.
I decided to write the poem as a ‘Luc Bat’ - a Vietnamese form, which is structured in alternating lines of six and eight syllables. Luc Bats have a strict rhyming scheme, in which three rhyming words must appear in specific syllables. It makes it quite a challenge to write something that fits the form perfectly, without compromising on grammar or meaning but if you get it right, it can result in some really interesting poetry. On this occasion, I decided to add to the challenge by using pararhymes, which use the same consonants but different vowel sounds, rather than full rhymes. Pararhymes can add a sinister tone to a poem, which I felt would work well in a piece connected to Samhain. It was really difficult to construct but I was pleased with the result, and even more delighted when Aimsir Press agreed to publish it.
Aimsir Press’ was founded in 2022 by Ursula O’Sullivan and Aisling Ní Choibheanaigh, who set out to create a journal based around Irish seasonality published in four editions each year: Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lúnasa and Samhain. They accept work in English, Irish, and Gàidhlig. I would like to thank them very much for believing in my work.
The Samhain 2023 edition of ‘Aimsir’ is available to download here.
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