Across the Narrow Straits: Place and pilgrimage

The narrow straits:   The stretch of water between Ireland and Scotland  The perilous, hopeful path of the refugee.  The hidden, inner journey we all take to find the shore   Historian and social justice advocate Rosemary Power maps the stormy crossings of the human spirit. Drawing on her deep connection to the Hebrides and a lifetime of advocating for the vulnerable, she offers poems that go to the heart of human experience and illuminate the most difficult straits of our lives.   From the stormy seas between Ireland and Scotland to the harrowing, eternal struggles of refugees seeking safety, these poems capture moments when land – and hope – is both tantalisingly close and agonisingly out of reach.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS  Introduction     7 Inside the music     10   The journey     11 Glen Nant     12 This side the shadows     13 The bell     14 In the west     16 Snæfellsnes     18 Prayer for writers     20 Brendan     22 The island. Iona     23 Columcille     24 Iona visitors     25  Hermit     26 Reilg Oran Chapel     27 Hill of the Angels/St Michael’s Chapel, Iona     28 Girls known to Jesus     29 Adomnán     32   Staying the seasons – Passiontide and beyond     33 Rathlin’s other island     34 Lament of the fig-tree     35 It was the third hour     36 Oughter cross     37 After the plague: Holy Saturday     38 The empty day     39 In the dew     40 Belfast Trideum:     42 The day God called     42 Maundy Thursday night     43 Good Friday morning     45 Good Friday evening. Belfast Covenant, 1988     47  Holy Saturday. It may be God     48 Easter Sunday. After the ceasefire     50 Belfast Pentecost     51   Staying the seasons – Christmas and beyond     53 City Christmas     54 Child of the manger     56 Joseph     58 Herod once heard     59 Decoys     60 Border Presentation     61 The Flight     63   The return – places of giving     67 Kylemore     68 Holy Island quernstone     70 Rain at Corcomroe     72 Loop Head     73 Lehinch     74 Illaunamanagh cemetery, Shannon     75   The return – places of story     77 Western knitter     78 Ballad from Death Row     80 The last wolf     82 Clearances     84 Caithness windfarm     87 Refugee     88 The shallow Channel     89 Moneen teen/The journey     90 Gaza:     93 For the young who die alone     93 In the wildness     94 Crossing     95 In the time of Covid-19     96 Spring     98 Burren light     99

About the Author :
Rosemary Power is an author of books and articles on Iona and the medieval Hebrides, an editor of refugee stories, and a member of the Iona Community, with extensive experience in church ministries and social justice situations. This is her first full collection of poetry.