We had a great night at Flannery’s on Saturday night. I hadn’t been there in two years, and there
were all the familiar faces – musicians and patrons alike. Barry and I arrived at 10:30, and the place
was already full. Val, who is a musician
and storyteller, came over to greet us. So did Aine, a librarian in Athlone who
was playing the fiddle. We eventually got a couple places at the bar and the
music began around 11:00. The first of
our students to arrive were Keely Parrish, Wendy Townsend, and Bayliann
Livengood. Keely said that she figured
if the professors were coming it was probably going to be good. After just a few songs she said it was just
exactly what she’d been hoping to experience.
The music is led by Tony, and everyone sings along. Anne Flannery, the proprietor, shouts for
everyone to be quiet, “Where’s your manners?”, when someone is reciting or
singing a solo. She had a birthday cake
for three of her elderly patrons, including Tony. As he was walking back to his seat, Tony
asked me if I would say a poem, and of course I agreed. I didn’t think he’d
recognized me, so I was a little surprised. And since I’d had no thought of
performing, I’d already had three nice
glasses of Jamieson. I gave Keely some
money and asked her to get me a coke.
She said, “I’m happy to order you a coke, but research shows that the
only thing that helps in a situation like this is a good slap to the face.” She assured me she wouldn’t slap me and I
slammed down the coke.
And that was just the moment when Tony said, “There’s an
American lady here who’s agreed to give us a poem”. I stood up and Anne began shouting for
everyone to shut-up. The very noisy room
went completely silent, and I recited, “Enquiring Edward”, which I’ve included
below. It went great, my students were
delighted, and I was soon plied with more to drink from the patrons.
At the next break in the music, I went and asked Val if we
would tell so my students could hear him.
By this time several more of them had arrived. After a couple more
songs, Val stood up, Anne’s voice clanged out for quiet, and he launched into a
series of excellently told short stories and jokes. My favorite was about the first mirror to
arrive in Athlone. Of course, he set it
in Flannery’s, and the main characters were Tony and another of the
regulars. When they looked across the
length of the bar into the mirror, they thought they were seeing relatives who
had long ago emigrated to American. When
they raised a hand in greeting, so did the other fellas. When Tony got up to buy them pints, his
friend said, “Sure, sit down. He’s
getting up to buy you one!”
As they say here, the craic was grand!
The picture at the top shows Anne giving the cake to three of her patrons. Tony is in the light shirt on the left. At the far left in the background are keely Parrish and Wendy Townsend. The picture in the middle is my mid poem. The one below is Val during his telling.
Enquiring Edward (Anonymous)
Young Edward
Egge, as we shall find
Possessed a
most enquiring mind.
He had a
sort of natural bent
For what is
called experiment.
For
instance, when he fell down stairs
Although he
needed some repairs
He said he
did not mind at all
Because this
rather nasty fall
Provided striking
confirmation
Of Newton’s
law of gravitation.
So when he
heard some people say,
As people do
from day to day
“There’s
nothing like a Guinness”,
Ned resolved
to test what they had said.
He made a
list, some eighty pages,
Of all the
other beverages
From
absinthe, made in France, to zhloo
Distilled
from dates in Timbuktu
Then tried
with scientific zeal
A different
drink with every meal.
It took the
persevering Ned
Four years
to work from A to Zed
And when he
finally got to finis
He settled
down to try a Guinness.
He poured it
out, he watched it flow
Admired its
head, its ruby glow
And
thinking, “This looks exquisite,”
He
tentatively tasted it.
It really
was a moving sight
To see his
transports of delight
As deep into
his inmost soul
The goodness
of the Guinness stole.
With manly
tears his cheeks were wet
As rapture
mingled with regret
To think of
all the years he’d wasted
With this
quite peerless drink untasted.
Moral:
No matter
where or how you seek,
You’ll find
that Guinness is unique!
