Poetry | Thurles Information

“The Queens Of Littleton Show” – By Tom Ryan

The Queens Of Littleton Show

Courtesy of Thurles Author & Poet Tom Ryan ©

In all their fairest finery,
Silk and lace embroidery,
Frills – petticoat and jewellery
Beauts flock to the show at Littleton.
Lipsticked, rouged ideally,
Competitive to cruelty,
Eyes flashing like rich royalty,
The Queens of Littleton Show.
From Killenaule and Brumminjam
From every village, town they come
To see their maidens now become
The raging beauts of Littleton.
Charming, multi-colourful,
Fair and very beautiful,
Ruby cheeked and jovial
In Littleton to win.
Factory girl and farmerette,
Every beauty’s in a fret,
Palpitating, who will get
The title – “Queen of Littleton?”
War may rage on foreign field,
Armies conquer or may yield,
But the crowning glory is believed
To be the test at Littleton.
Families,cousins, children too,
Attired in every single hue,
To cheer the beaut that wins the “Blue”
The belle of all at Littleton.
“Star” scribe and flashing camera man
Attempt to capture, if they can
The mighty splendour of the one
That takes the sash in Littleton.
Dress, deportment, if you please,
Never mind your hunky knees,
‘Tis surely hard the judge to please
At the show in Littleton.
And when the judge the winner gives
Nigh all but one right then believes
That judges all are bat-blind thieves
For the show at Littleton.
I’ll dance and drink the cuppa tea
I’ll kiss the Queen, just wait and see,
“Prince Charming” may just envy me
At the show in Littleton.
END

Tom Ryan ,”Iona”, Rahealty, Thurles, Co Tipperary

Requiem

Requiem

Courtesy of Thurles Author & Poet Tom Ryan ©

Oh, you who loved all living things,
‘Tis not in a clay garden
With marble monuments or beautiful flowers,
I see you now.
Nor in decay of any form,
But alive in a beautiful memory
Of times forever green and lovely.
When the sun engoldened
Your laughing face and hair,
Standing by the kitchen window there,
In a summer, floral printed dress.
Or in winter in the chair in the corner,
Warm with merriment in the peat fire’s glow.
Oh, I see you young and beautiful,
And warm, alive,
And your thoughts and feelings,
And all you were to me,
Will forever be
Mine
In my memory.

END

Tom Ryan “Iona”, Rahealty, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

“Time For The Girls” – By Pam Ayres

Time For The Girls

From the pen of that wonderful Poet, Songwriter, Radio & TV Presenter Pam Ayres (MBE)

I’m normally a social girl, I love to meet my mates
But lately with the virus here, we can’t go out the gates.

You see, we are the ‘oldies’ now. We need to stay inside
If they haven’t seen us for a while, they’ll think we’ve upped and died.

They’ll never know the things we did, before we got this old
There wasn’t any Facebook, so not everything was told.

We may seem sweet old ladies, who would never be uncouth
But we grew up in the 60’s – If you only knew the truth!

There was sex and drugs and rock ‘n roll, the pill and miniskirts
We smoked, we drank, we partied and were quite outrageous flirts.

Then we settled down, got married and turned into someone’s mum,
Somebody’s wife, then nana, who on earth did we become?

We didn’t mind the change of pace, because our lives were full
But to bury us before we’re dead, is like a red rag to a bull!

So here you find me stuck inside for 4 weeks, maybe more
I finally found myself again, then I had to close the door!

It didn’t really bother me, I’d while away the hour
I’d bake for all the family, but I’ve got no flaming flour!

Now Netflix is just wonderful, I like a gutsy thriller
I’m swooning over Idris, or some random sexy killer.

At least I’ve got a stash of booze for when I’m being idle
There’s wine and whiskey, even gin, if I’m feeling suicidal!

So, let’s all drink to lockdown, to recovery and health
And hope this awful virus doesn’t decimate our wealth.

We’ll all get through the crisis and be back to join our mates
Just hoping I’m not far too wide to fit through the flaming gates.
END

TIME

As we informed you on April 25th last; today April 30th, is Poetry Day Ireland.

The theme for Poetry Day Ireland (2020) is ‘There Will Be Time’, and not surprisingly our resident poet, Mr Tom Ryan has put together a few well-chosen poetic thoughts on this very same subject. Thank you Tom.

Time

Courtesy of Thurles Author & Poet Tom Ryan ©

Ethereal and eternal,
In the great uncertain romance of the world,
Life’s but a quiet moment after all,
Where, by God and nature blessed,
Happily have I spent my nights and days,
Pursuing my simple dreams and inoffensive ways,
Ever wisely on the edge of eternity.
My soul in endless time my friend,
And joyful love and laughter that must transcend
The nothingness of vain, unworthy things,
The folly of the age.
By sparkling stars and streams the time I dwell,
Little to give to all but time.
To linger, listen, laugh with love,
The never ending music and perpetually mysterious rhyme,
Of this great universe and humanity all around,
Gifted by God of endless time to man by ingratitude bound,
Who must consider now nature,
And infinite time’s pitiful and sad appeal,
For the greedy, thoughtless, unremitting hours,
In this space of mindless destruction,
Of our beautiful, precious and too transient race and place.

End

Tom Ryan “Iona”, Rahealty, Thurles, Co. Tipperary

Bring ‘A Joy Of Poetry’ Into Young Lives With These Top Resources

Remember, tomorrow April 30th is Poetry Day Ireland.

Why not take some time to bring the joy of poetry into the lives of children and young people, with resources that will help them read, write and listen to great poetry.

Writing Poetry

Poetry Ireland creates excellent resource packs to support poetry exploration on Poetry Day and all year round. It is well worth checking out their back catalogue of Poetry Day resource packs.
Their 2019 pack is available by clicking HERE.
This pack provides many creative ways to get pupils writing different types and styles of poetry.
Other resource packs worth checking out are available HERE and HERE and HERE.

Reading & Listening to Poetry

Performing poetry with appropriate expression, rhythm and pace is an enviable skill, learned by listening to others read poetry.
One fantastic website, founded to inspire young learners by enabling them to listen to poetry, is ‘The Children’s Poetry Archive’ available HERE.

Treasured poets for young learners, (and older ones too), that you can listen to, include Spike Milligan, Michael Rosen and Roald Dahl. Poetry is explored and categorised across type, poet, theme and age. It certainly is one website that every parent, teacher and pupil should check out.

We hope these resources will help enhance your Poetry Day tomorrow and enable you to enjoy poetry all year round, with young and old.