Unique Perspectives on Poetry

On 28th November, Trinity Ability co op launched their second annual art show, titled Unique: A Disabled Perspective. This exhibition ran through Disability Awareness Week, and featured work by disabled artists and poets from across Trinity, Marino and TCPID (Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities).

TN2 is delighted to feature poems and commentary by Ross Ó Colmáin and Ben Rowsome. Also featured is Rachel Murphy’s art. These works were first exhibited in Unique: A Disabled Perspective.

Blue Nights

Blue nights come and go, As still as the Angel of the North But with a finer finish. In the dark grasses a league away, The horses’ screams are muffled By the clouds starchy as pillows, A sight to leave even Stubbs speechless.

I’m sat here in this lodge, Feeling safe as a tiger shark Preserved in formaldehyde, But perhaps just as lifeless—

Somehow, I write to stay alive, Some Mae West keeping this Shit-show afloat. Now, I feel dark as Munch.

Ben Rowsome

Lár Baill

Lár Baill

I asked Ross and Ben how they think their disabilities influence their poetry. This is what they had to say:

ROSS: I am ambivalent about the role of disability in my writing. I am hesitant to write about it in the sense that, while I am a disabled person, this is not the full aspect of my being. I am disabled but I’m also gay, Irish, and from Dublin. Of course, authors have their themes – Ó Ríordáin wrote about loneliness, Ó Direáin wrote about Árainn, and Ó Conaire wrote about suffering – but these themes were not them and they were not typecast. I would not consider myself a disabled writer but rather a writer that is disabled. That lived experience has helped me understand the human condition that people hold in common, regardless of if they have an impairment or not.

BEN: I have autism, which means I have a particular way of viewing and contemplating the world around me. In that sense, it influences what I write about. In terms of the way I write, I think my autism also plays a major role there too in that I become fixated with particular writers or topics, which in turn make their way into what I put onto the page. In a strange sense, my autism is the reason why I write poetry, even if it’s not necessarily the theme of my latest poem.

Tá mé i lár baill

Is bhíos le cuimhne na gcat

Idir trí bheatha

Aerach

Gaelach Míchumasach

Más ann d’áit dom

Is spás na beirte é Aerach is Gaelach

Aerach is Míchumasach Ach sin é

Tá mé san imeall

Gan teangmháil cheart agam

Gan cónaí, gan tearmann

I lár baill

Ar mhiste sin?

Níl a fhios agam

B’fhéidir go dtiocfaidh spás chun blátha

Ross Ó Colmáin

In contrast to Ross and Ben’s poetry, Rachel works in visual art. Her diptych forces the viewer to assess their perspective on both the artworks and invisible disability. Here is how she explains her illustrations:

RACHEL: It is up to the viewer whether they see it or not. These still life images portray the same scene from different perspectives. The first photo is idyllic, soft, and easy to look at. The second is bruised, textured, and fills the viewer with unease. That’s okay though, because the viewer can refocus on the first image and pretend they never saw the rotting orange and damaged bowl. I have found benefits to being able to shift focus away from my invisible disability throughout my life. I felt like I had control over it; a sense of autonomy. I was once in the bowl of oranges, hiding among the crowd. I chose to change this and I have more in common with the orange outside of the bowl. Now that I have begun to sit confidently in my identity as a disabled person, I have realised the limitations of that agency. Even when I choose to make my disability visible, many people still do not see it,or view it in a different way than I do. This has been a surprising perspective to gain.

Ross Ó Colmáin is a writer, playwright, poet, and disability activist. He has written for the Irish Times and tuairisc.ie, and has had short fiction published in Comhar and Feasta . He won a place on Foras na Gaeilge’s mentorship scheme and is currently working on his first collection of short fiction under the mentorship of acclaimed author Ré Ó Laighléis. He is the current Graduate Intern at the Trinity Inclusive Curriculum Project.

Rachel Murphy graduated from History in 2022 and was an early member of the Trinity Ability co op. She led the Inclusive Student Life Project which aims to make student bodies in Trinity more inclusive to disabled students. She is currently the Disability Service's Graduate Intern, acting as a liason between the Ability co op and the service.

Ben Rowsome is a third year Physics and Astrophysics student. While studying in Trinity, he has also been involved with the Trinity Disability Service and the Ability co op. As a teenager he became an autism advocate through his work with the autism group AsIAm, and most recently he was elected to the Youth Committee of the European Disability Forum. Ben started writing poetry when he was fifteen, and has been writing ever since. Other interests include music, chess, running, quizzing, and of course, astrophysics.

Trinity Ability co op is a cooperative movement led by disabled students working towards radical inclusion on the Trinity campus. The co op's aims include making Trinity an inclusive environment for disabled students and raising awareness of their experiences. For more information on the Ability co op, visit trinityabilitycoop.com/.