In response to works chosen from The Niland Collection for The Body Electric exhibition, the following poems have been written in a masterclass last weekend with writer Tara Bergin. The unusual and varied responses are both delightful and intriguing.

Observe the I

From stone

Revealed

The stark

Dark crow

You see

I am

A mirror of your soul

Peer within

The watching eye

And seek

The truth

Before you die.

by Marguerite Quinlan

In response to The Táin, The Morrígan by Louis Le Brocquy

Bussin

It’s bussin,
Say it mom – bussin!

With utter glee, I grind my heel into the hot tarmac
Twist, squish, swish

With a wiggle, my heel sinks deeper into the sticky tar
as the liquid black bubbles up

Steel arch, glinting in the sun
It’s bussin, I say, bussin

Footnote -  ‘bussin’ is a slang word used on TikTok. Meaning 'very good’ or ‘delicious’, it’s popular in online videos and memes.

By Marie-Louise Blaney

In response to Stiletto, by Dorothy Cross

Free the Frazzle

It is beyond time
To clear my mind
Of the detritus
Gathered over the years
Wasteful
Weighing me down

Naked
I present myself
Mustering strength
I bend my knee
Straighten my back
To free
My frazzled mind

Boom

I explode
Sunder weight
Of childhood
Rituals and ruination
Self
Forfeited within flock

Flashback
Rumble of rosary
Insidious intemperance
Unloved
Unappreciated
Unnoticed

Boom

I am back
I reclaim my state
Of being
To love
To appreciate
To notice

My self
My place
My frazzled mind

by Bláithín Gallagher 

In response to My Mind is Frazzled by Janet Mullarney