Poetry Jukebox
5 rue des Irlandais

Having travelled to Strasbourg for the summer, our Poetry Jukebox is back in the courtyard with a new trilingual curation of poems. Selected by Pat Boran and Clíona Ní Ríordáin, in French and either Irish or English, 5 rue des Irlandais is inspired by the relationship of Irish poets with Paris, the city of light. The Irish experience of Paris radiates from the streets of the Latin Quarter, specifically from the Centre Culturel Irlandais situated on 5 rue des Irlandais. From cultural landmarks such as the Musée de Cluny, to the brasserie Les Fêtes Galantes, just a stone throw’s away from the CCI, or to the narrow rue du Chat-qui-Pêche, the Centre is at the heart of the map these poems create.


At night, sometimes, when I cannot sleep
I go to the atelier door
And smell the earth of the garden.

La nuit, parfois, quand je n’arrive pas à dormir
Je vais à la porte de l’atelier
Pour sentir la terre du jardin.

(John Montague)