Little did I know on the day I shook the hand of Queen Elizabeth that someone I had never met would be so inspired to pen a poem in recognition of that much publicised event. When my friend and colleague Mitchel McLaughlin drew my attention to the poem I was amazed that someone should feel so moved to compose such a wonderful poem as ‘Shaking Hands’. I was intrigued − who was this person Pádraig Ó Tuama of whom I knew nothing?

Some weeks later First Minister Peter Robinson and myself were invited to speak at the Peace Centre at Corrymeela, Co. Antrim. In my speech I mentioned the poem ‘Shaking Hands’. Imagine my surprise when a few minutes later I was introduced to Pádraig who, unknown to me, was among the assembled guests. I expressed my thanks and appreciation for his ability to encapsulate so effectively the symbolic significance of two people shaking hands.

I have a great admiration for poets, the works of Seamus Heaney, Patrick Kavanagh, Michael Longley and John Montague line my bookshelves. People, land, conflicts, life, love, death, hunger, reconciliation, equality, war, greed, law and loss all come under the poet’s microscope for analysis and outcomes. Pádraig’s poem ‘Shaking Hands’ challenges all of us on the hugely important matters of equality and leadership. Without leadership there would have been no peace process in the North of Ireland. Without equality there can be no justice anywhere.

Pádraig’s latest work continues to challenge, provoke and advocate that a better world is not just possible but essential. Honesty, empathy and compassion are the hallmarks of this work from a poet who accepts that he too has a responsibility to help make the world a fairer and better place. Maith thú a Phádraig.

Martin McGuinness

Deputy First Minister

Stormont Assembly

June 2013

Preface

Many of the poems in this book were written as responses to hearing the stories of people who lived through troubles. The poem titles have spaces between each letter as a way of indicating the importance of silence, listening, grief and the things beyond words.

Pádraig Ó Tuama

T h e w o r d b e c a m e s t r e t c h e d

a n d c r e p t a m o n g u s

It is the tense vocation of language

to contain and constrain meaning.

Some words are better than others −

‘alas’ sounds nothing like keening.

Some words deepen another −

to be troubled is to be found bereaving.

It is the tense vocation of language

to contain and constrain meaning.

[ t h e ] n o r t h [ e r n ] [ o f ] i r e l a n d

It is both a dignity and

a difficulty

to live between these

names,

perceiving politics

in the syntax of

the state.

And at the end of the day,

the reality is

that whether we

change

or whether we stay

the same

these questions will

remain.

Who are we

to be

with one

another?

and

How are we

to be

with one

another?

and

What to do

with all those memories

of all those funerals?

and

What about those present

whose past was blasted

far beyond their

future?

I wake.

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