Bardsong – Summer 2005

Too beautiful by half, Bardsong, The Journal for Celebrating the Celtic Spirit, is an unabashed 8.5 x 11-inch publication devoted—in both senses—to the Celtic theme which is expressed by Assistant Editor Kathleen Cunningham Guler as: “[. . .] hiraeth. Untranslatable into English, my own understanding of it has come to mean several ideals: a melancholy longing for an unfulfilled dream of the way things should have been; a need to return to the ancientness of our culture and people; and that beneath the surface of what we consciously see in the present world lies another place, one that is sacred and holds the secrets that are the heart of our heritage.” Too beautiful by half, Bardsong, The Journal for Celebrating the Celtic Spirit, is an unabashed 8.5 x 11-inch publication devoted—in both senses—to the Celtic theme which is expressed by Assistant Editor Kathleen Cunningham Guler as: “[. . .] hiraeth. Untranslatable into English, my own understanding of it has come to mean several ideals: a melancholy longing for an unfulfilled dream of the way things should have been; a need to return to the ancientness of our culture and people; and that beneath the surface of what we consciously see in the present world lies another place, one that is sacred and holds the secrets that are the heart of our heritage.” An intricate Celtic mask adorns the cover—and for each story or poem, there is a Celtic-knot, not necessarily confined to the emblem. For example, from “Beyond the Winze” by Roger Hannah: “Thi boy jis ran tae a spot, cockedt a hind one, and startedt tae squeeze, whinin’ aw thi time.” Reading is momentarily impeded, although the sense of the words is easy to come by. There is a good mix of short stories and poetry and four interesting reviews of books dealing with the Celtic theme. [www.bardsongpress.com]