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Ronald Reagan # Dolly Parton

September mornings
An Indian Summer
Warming the homes
Of south Wexford mummers
Hazelnuts hang
In family clusters
Statesmen engage
In rank filibuster
Thistledown birds nests
In Ballaghaderreen
Old Ronnie Reagan
Loved Ballyporeen
Sad is the passing
Of jockey Pat Smullen
Hearts at half mast
From Ring to Rathmullen
Wish You Were Here
And Nights in White Satin
A small grey transistor
Maths tea and Latin
Screeching green buses
And lovable tramps
That was my Dublin
Ornate street lamps
I thought I saw Dolly
Entering the Dockers
She sang country well
Tho’ she had her knockers.

I must away…Sláinte!

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Toots Hibbert # Leonard Cohen & THE CURE

Wee Man now sleeps
No more to stunt
Brave and foolhardy
Blissfully blunt
Sparks in the darkness
And barrel top wagons
Back to when Bulmers
Sold cider in flagons
Just off West Cork
Fishing for skate
Whopping great monsters
Mackerel for bait
Hewing my wood
Some glow for the winter
Goodbye to a champ
Slán leat Alan Minter
Autumn dear Autumn
In sweet Garryowen
Soft on the breeze
I hear Leonard Cohen
Lovely Toots Hibbert
The prince from Jamaica
Playing his tunes
On high with his maker
Heaps of eye liner
Hardly demure
Friday’s for love
Whack on THE CURE.

Slán for now…Sláinte.

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Mandela # Cleopatra # Ronald Bell & Sinatra

Golf ball sized conkers
In Monasterboice
I’d claim every chestnut
If I had the choice
Oak trees are swaying
Near Wicklow’s Shillelagh
Facing the storms
Like Nelson Mandela
The Strawberry Beds
Roll towards the Liffey
Some freshly whipped cream
I’ll be there in a jiffy
Oysters from salt seas
One drop Lea Perrins
Crisp water-cresses
From streams in the Sperrins
Dear Ronald Bell
Of Kool and the Gang
Flew off to his flock
How sweetly you sang
A young Minstrel Boy
To the war he is gone
Great Thomas Moore
His one battle song
A girl from Killiney
A real Cleopatra
Her suitor a singer
Was no Frank Sinatra.

Slán for now..Sláinte.

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Boris # Robert Browning

Boris the brain
Is blocking the exit
Hedging his bets
And playing with Brexit
Yellow Brick Road
E.John on piano
Damo and Ivor
And breakfast with Grano
Echoes of royals
The huge Rock of Cashel
Gulls follow ploughmen
In brave Knocknagoshel
Blue skies today
From Forkhill to Downings
Home Thoughts, from Abroad
The late Robert Browning
Peacock and pheasant
Such fine apparel
While walking the hills
I met Captain Farrell
Gorgeous Avenger
As sharp as Sam Snead
Dame Diana Rigg
Is back with her Steed
Boozers to open
On Sept twenty first
Lads lying in ditches
Dying with the thirst.

I’ll be back…Sláinte.

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Ned Broy # Glenn Miller

Triangle jingling
Up in the Joy
The Castle at Midnight
And ghost of Ned Broy
Thoughts for a legend
Great Paul McGrath
His friend has departed
Farewell to his Ma
Couples a courting
They met at the Pillar
And nightly they danced
To the tunes of Glenn Miller
Champ of the world
Rhymed with Balbriggan
Damsons a plenty
Beyond in Kilquiggan
Inhuman conquests
Of teak-tough Tom Crean
The road by the river
That flows through Raheen
Bunny’s Quicksilver
With Norm on the organ
Seventy three
And poet Cliff Morgan
Brendan..it’s said
Drank porter in litres
There just was no beating
That girl Mary Peters.

Slán for now…Sláinte.

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Finnegan’s Wake # Daniel Prude

A deft escape artist
Andy Dufrain
Crawled through a pipe
As he sang Nancy Spain
September sunshine
Peeps through the trees
Footprints form salt pools
In Fethard on Sea
The swan in the evening
Sweeps over the lake
Pipes and tobacco
At Finnegan’s wake
Another dead victim
So sad and so crude
Murdered by lawmen
Sleep soft Daniel Prude
Leaves from their branches
Now fall in Belcoo
Parsons and Vicars
Chant ‘Up Mary Lou’
Billions of brambles
Laden with berries
Thrushes patrolling
Like cops up in Skerries
A sanitized world
It’s Howard Hughes-esque
From tightly rolled bogeys
Under our desks.

Back soon…Sláinte!

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Banna Strand # Jacob Blake. The Ramones.

Wild Banna Strand
Midst roars in the din
Old ghosts still wait
For the boat to come in
Badgers in sets
By the castle in Trim
Where rabbits sit tight
For the dawn to begin
Shots ringing out
At poor Jacob Blake
Running from cowards
And all for hate sake
Scratch golfers and co
Farewell to Phil Hogan
Flags at half mast
Come back Johnny Logan
A nation in tears
We’re on bended knee
The Black Velvet Band
And Linda’s ‘Why Me’?
A host of great stars
One named Dundrum
Arkle and Shergar
And princely Red Rum
Haircuts like bowls
Ripped denim and bones
Raucous and ready
Yes folks…The Ramones.

Slán for now…Sláinte.

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Master McGrath # Happy Birthday Van the Man.

What is a poem?
Where does it go?
It drifts on forever
Alone in the flow
Van the blues singer
Is seventy five
Into the Mystic
Strangford Lough drives
Master McGrath
The world’s fastest dog
A right one for chasing
Hares through the bog
Another fine canine
Ballydonnell Sam
Was fed on fresh liver
And lean Limerick ham
I guarded the Bolshoi
More times than four
As Russia’s white swans
Sailed round the floor
I watched the last cow
When milking was done
She followed the string
And dusk had begun
The last day of August
It’s been a long hall
School days resume
The kids had a ball.

I’ll be off…Sláinte.

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Usain Bolt # Lady Lavery

The fastest sprint runner
The world’s ever seen
Swift Usain Bolt
Caught covid nineteen
Where are the gold dafs
That bloomed in the Spring?
They now sleep in peace
‘Til their waking bell rings
Plumes of white spray
Gates on the Vartry
Brehon laws penned
My own Chiefs of Dartry
Legions of Gaels
Lie in their graves
Rosscarbery weeps
Across the white waves
A young lady fair
An Irish pound note
John Lavery’s eye
Deft strokes to coat
Down by the mill pond
Where crocuses bloom
The last rose of summer
Enters my room
It’s time to move on
No more to tarry
A voice on the breeze
Queen Margaret Barry.

Chow for now…Sláinte.

Blog

Crazy Golf # Status Quo.

Cream at a golf gig
Beyond in the west
The great and the good
‘We’re simply the best’
Lets pull up the ladder
And we’ll seal your fate
We have arrived
With mountainous full plates
Lets look to the future
Bring on Status Quo
We’ll practice between here
And old Ballymoe
Outside of my window
The wild driving storm
My hospital bed
Is cozy and warm
Drips to the left
And drips to the right
While bands of God’s angels
Stay up all night
Bailey and Kish
And crab pincer piers
Brave Boolavogue
And bold Shelmaliers
A lassie from Belfast
The boys she bemoaned
Oh “I’ll tell me Ma”
When I arrive home.

I’ll be back…Sláinte.