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At this point in time, Bealtaine Writers are involved in a project with the Irish Writers Centre and the Dublin Adult Learning Centre. It is being facilitated by the poet Nessa O’Mahony and the general theme is Journeying. There will be a reading of the work that comes out of it at the end of November and there will also be a printed version.
During the course of the sessions, I was drawn back to a time in the 1950s which caused a stir on our road.
The illustration is a cheat because I find myself drawn to photos of my grandchildren and keep wanting to use them.
I hope you like the writing. As usual, read, enjoy, share and give me some feedback.
Turas of the Very Young
Cuid a hAon
Cá bhfuil tú ag dul?
I’m off to find me Nana
Cé tá ag dul leat?
Me brudder in his pram
Conas a rachaidh sibh?
We will walk
and sing and look for her
Cén fhaid a bheidh tú imithe?
It’s only a few minutes to the Village
Cad a bhfaighidh tú?
Me Nana and her shopping
Cuid a Dó
Cá
ndeachaigh tú?
We ended up in Ranelagh
Conas ar thaisteal sibh?
We walked till I nearly fell down
Cad a aimsigh tú?
The fla’ we lived in til I was six
Is ansin?
The
man in the fla’ above give me thrupence?
But nothing to eat
Cén chaoi a ndeachaigh tú abhaile?
Trudged up the canal to the 83 bustop
Persuaded the conductor to let me on for threepence
Cad a aimsigh
tú ansin?
A flurry of neighbours flapping
Cad dúirt said?
Asked questions with worried looks
Cad a bhí á cheapadh agat?
I kept wondering what all the fuss was about
Cad
a duirt tú?
I only went looking for Nana
Cén fhad a raibh tú imithe?
I was only gone eight hours
and I was nine*
*Journey
Part
One
Where are you going?
Who will go with you?
How will you go?
How long will you be
a way?
What will you find?
Part Two
Where did you go?
How did you get there?
What did you find?
Then what?
How did you get home?
What did you find?
What did they say?
What were you thinking?
What did you say?
How long were you gone?
Peter Clarke
October 2018
Comments
Colm
04.11.2018 21:57
Intriguing. Ethereal storytelling, conjuring up a world fado fado.
It also highlighted how crap my Irish is!
Louise
29.10.2018 22:15
An tú féin a bhí ann?
Clíodhna
29.10.2018 20:19
Brilliant and Terrifying!
Latest comments
25.11 | 22:15
Grief is experience through the mundane. Simple but powerful. The accompanying image really compliments the poem.
07.11 | 11:14
Hi Peter,
A great observation! Social media can be a scary place... I also need to reduce my time there
Hugs,
John.x
06.11 | 16:24
A great one, Peter, in the context you describe. I don't read social media myself, I doubt my equilibrium could stand it. 'The balance of his mind disturbed' yes, I think it would be.
06.11 | 15:59
Yes, gossip is a weapon of mass destruction.
In my business as well as personal life I have zero tolerance.
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And What About . . .
I have neglected this for far too long, and now it is time again. But what to write about, what poem to share? The world is packed with catastrophic possibilities. Such choices: dementia/genocide colluder or extreme narcissism in the White House; a hung parliament in the UK; the reunification of the USSR with a tyrannical megalomaniac at its head; the eradication of a race by a genocidal government in Gaza; the African continent reduced to bankruptcy and regression to male tribalism; in Ireland, even with an appalling electoral turnout the routing of the far right and Sinn Féin may offer some comfort except we face another FF/FG fiasco. Mother Nature rumbles on its rampage, raging against the human species’ abject destruction of the planet’s habitat. What the . . .
Being facetious right now is my only defence against absolute despair. So read, comment, pass it on, and send feedback.
City Walking and Cycling take 680,000
cars per day off the road
Irish Time Heading
More and more folk, cycling and walking, may
keep gases from greenhouses further at bay
This newspaper heading illustrates vividly
thousands of cyclists and walkers assiduously
stopping some cars on their journey
pushing them aside - making drivers quite surly
Mountains of metal - like scrapyards of sculpture
keep bicycle lanes quite safe - at this juncture
The new revolution is well underway
don’t get behind wheels - hear what they say:
Cars and their fumes play a very big part
the smell is quite phew don’t mention cow farts
Wear out your shoe leather walking
greet travellers with smiles while you’re talking
Force councils to make better spaces
to go out and about roaming those places
where vitamin D, and oxygen from trees
fill our lungs and our brains so we see
how to save us and this magical planet
except for some vicious old tyrants goddammit
Peter Clarke, 18th March 2024
