An Irish Poesy by Greg Clary

I’ll tell me Ma about you, girl.

How you is handsome, you is pretty,

You the Belle of Sligo city.

How you turn my hair to red,

make me thirst for Guinness, and

long for my home of Gort.

I would cook a pot of coddle for you,

Pasties, scones, skirts and kidneys.

For you, I would bake my best Limerick ham.

I would read Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, Caitlin Maude,

Edna O’Brien, and W.B. Yeats, aloud, to you.

I would even read you James Joyce. For as long as it takes.

You bring out the Druid in me, the Lugh Lámfada, the

Finn MacCool, Brian Boru, and Michael Collins.

Girl, you bring out the Darby O’Gill in me.

For you, I would give up hurling.

No more rounders, rugby, or road bowling.

 I would give up darts in the pub.

I would serenade you with my fiddle and harp.

We’d step dance to reels, jigs, and hornpipes

at every cèilidh in every gaff around.

I would give my Celtic Cross to you. My

Trinity Knot, my Claddagh Ring.

I would pick shamrocks for you every day.

For you, girl, I would close all the

pubs in Ireland on St Patrick’s Day so

we could practice safe COVID-19.

Greg Clary is Professor Emeritus of Rehab and Human Services at Clarion University, Clarion PA.

His poems have appeared in The Rye Whiskey Review, North/South Appalachia, The Watershed Journal, and North/South Appalachia: Poetry and Art, Vol 1.

His photographs have been published in The Sun Magazine, Looking at Appalachia, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, The Watershed Journal, The Hole in the Head Review, Dark Horse, and North/South Appalachia.

Book: Piercing the Veil: Appalachian Visions, with Byron Hoot, Amazon Publishing (2020).

He was born and raised in Turkey Creek, West Virginia, and now resides in northwestern Pennsylvania.