Caroline Bergvall

Poet Mairéad Byrne opens Policromia Festival in Siena May 2026 with this stunning reading from her “Gan in The Midnight Court,” derived from Brian Merriman’s late 18th century 1,026 line Gaelic poem Cúirt an Mheán-Oíche (The Midnight Court). She says: “The preposition Gan is the third most frequent word used in Cúirt an Mheán-Oíche. It means without but doesn’t sound like that word. It sounds more like gone.”