NOT only is Innti one of the most important poetry magazines in Ireland today, it is also one of the most beautiful. Since its first appearance in Cork, in the late Sixties, as a poetry broadsheet they were fashionable then it has maintained a high standard of illustration and design. The platinum and palladium photographs of Harry Thuillier Jnr give Innti 15, edited by Michael Davitt (£5), a Victorian mystique.
This visual appeal is equalled only by Innti's commitment to poetry and language. And in the best sense of the word, Innti takes itself seriously. Michael Davitt, in his editorial, is worried about the gap between everyday spoken Irish and the language of poetry, a dichotomy which he sums up in the image of someone reading Innti in a pub and ask ing the bartender for O Domhnaill's dictionary.
In all, twenty four poets are represented, many of them among the best writing in Irish today. Looking for common themes or inclinations is, as has been pointed out in the past, fruitless. One valuable insight, however, is given by Louis de Paor in the substantial interview with him in the centre of the magazine: he talks of the favourable reception given his poetry in Australia, mentioning, with undue self deprecation, the conversational mode of poetry in Irish, "from mouth to ear", which was both novel and attractive to audiences more accustomed to the remoter intellectualism of the printed word.
One is not surprised, therefore, that many of the poems printed here evince a certain direct romanticism - or is it lyricism? - which is almost as part of Innti's ethos. With Maire Mhac an tSaoi's translation of Rilke's fourth Duino Elegy, however, we become enmeshed in, rather than being simply lassoed by, the poetic voice.
Very much a measure of its success over the past eight years, Oghma is now taken for granted as the main location; for intellectual discussion and new writing in Irish. Exceptionally, its articles not only satisfy the Irish speaker's need for quality prose, but are contributions in their own right to, the general debate on a number of important issues. In Oghma 8, edited by Sosamh O Murchu, Michel O Cearuil and Antain Mag Shamhrain (no price given), an excellent study by Proinsias Mac Bradaigh of the Dublin drug experience combines academic research and practical knowledge and should be essential reading for anyone involved in policy making in this area. Similarly, Padraig O Coimin's essay on the Irish rural economy is lucid in its analysis and timely in its warning.
TRADITIONAL subjects, too, are attacked with expertise and originality Lillis O Laoire's account of an aspect of dancing on Tory Island is humorous and scholarly with far reaching implications for the folk dance business, while Pol O Muiri and Fachtna O Drisceoil take an open and salutary look at some received ideas in Belfast and in Raidio na Gaeltachta respectively. (I must of course mention my own article on "Ossian", if only to declare my interest in praising this formidable publication).
As for fiction, the magazine leads with Micheal O Conghaile's sensitive short story about a young Gaeltacht man "coming out" to his father. Nor is the translation from the Polish by Aodn O Dubhghaill of a story by Anna Kowalska any less powerful, while Gearailt Mac Eoin has a charming tale based on a meeting of old friends in a London park. The pieces by Dara Conaola and Sean O Curraoin are, as we have come to expect, low in plot but high in style and idiom and, not to be outdone by Innti, Oghma also has an interview with a poet - Biddy Jenkinson.
These two hardy annuals are willy nilly - a pair and together provide an excellent cross-section for anyone looking at mainline writing in Irish today.