Doireann Ní Ghríofa grew up in County Clare. She holds a Masters Degree in Modern Irish Literature. Her poetry has been published in Prairie Schooner (Contemporary Irish Writers Issue), Causeway, Cyphers, Ropes Anthology, Revival, An tUltach, Feasta, Comhar, Crannóg, The Stony Thursday Book and An Gael. Further poems are forthcoming in Melusine. Doireann was among the prize-winners in the emerging writer category at the Oireachtas literary awards 2010, and was shortlisted in Siarscéal 2012 and in Comórtas Uí Néill, both in 2011 and 2012. The Arts Council of Ireland has awarded her a literature bursary. She was selected for the prestigious Poetry Ireland Introductions Series 2012. Her debut collection, Résheoid, is published by Coiscéim, and her forthcoming collection Dúlasair will be published in 2012.

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

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Night Drive

This wet road shines like a wound
Raw in reflected moonlight
A silvering scar, slick under skies of stars.
Upon the icy lake gleams a glaze of lace,
Frosted fields shine like rolling reams of raw silk.
An arch of colour curves above, slicing through blackest air
Vivid hues shimmer— crimson, fuchsia, teal, indigo,
Amber, orange, violet, azure – the night rainbow
Holds a looking glass to the beauty of dark
That draws me home, to where you stand on the stoop
Opaque orb in one hand, sleeping starling in the other,
Waiting.