The Speculations of Country People by Majella Kelly: Nature is moral force in poignant poetry inspired by Tuam babies

Majella Kelly, author of poetry book The Speculations of Country People. Photo by Ray Ryan

Aisling Cronin

Here is a world in which myth and the mundane intertwine — in which animals speak, and a memorial garden dedicated to the Tuam babies in Co Galway morphs into “Síle-na-Gig hunkered and holding open her genitals like two halves of an apple”.