Glám dícenn, the poet's curse

Glám dícenn was a poet's execration; a special curse declaimed by a poet that required him to stand much like a crane on one leg, to close one eye, and to extend one arm. No mere expression of opinion, the glám dícenn is a potent weapon of war, capable of blistering an opponent's face or of costing him his life. The victim of glám dícenn would be shunned by all levels of society. Comparable to a power wielded by early Arab poets called hija. In this audio piece, the wonderful Bob Curran, walking encyclopedia on the weird and wonderful in ancient Ireland tells us more about the Glám dícenn or Poet's Curse.