Pat Ingoldsby
“Each other
Is all that they’ve got
Him
Semi conscious in a doorway
wee-weeing in his sleep.
The other
snarling and smashing a bottle
cos it’s empty.
Nobody comes near them
except the Gardai.”
Life is strange. We celebrate people when they are alive, more so after they stop breathing. When someone passes we think of how their lives affected ours. Less so when they are still here for us to tell them direct. I’m as guilty as the rest but I am glad I had the chance and want to let Pat Ingoldsby know how much more enriched my life was because of his existence.
He was the punk rock poet as Steve Averill alludes to in his introduction. He lived his life the way he wanted to. He had his difficulties and got through them to create a world for himself. His existence was inspirational and now with his death the keeper of his words has put together a new compendium. What a special read it is. You can imagine Pats cheeky laugh at the end of each piece of work. The observations throughout are perfect observations of Irelands capital city. One where older people are abandoned, where poor people struggle for food and shelter. It’s not a political pamphlet and there’s no mention of the class war but you can sense Pat giving a voice to the voiceless right throughout. Each poem gives expert analysis into the city. Each word crafted in what may have seemed like a carefree manner but accurately reflected the heartbeat of the city.
This collection brings poignancy as the author is no longer with us. He passed in March of this year and Dublin has a small hole in its heart since then. Pats personality shines through the pages. During the sittings I had for reading this I needed to stop to reflect. Reflect on what it was like talking to Pat on the streets, reflect on having coffee in the coffee shop near his house. Reflect on this wonderful human being living life his way and just being Pat.
I pause and clear another lump in my throat and rush back to read the rest of the collection. I hope you get the privilege to read this at some point. As the last line of this collection states
“Pure and simply magic. “
“I love the way that it would never occur to a little person to walk in a straight line.
They hop, skip, jump, dance, pirouette, twirl and go higgeldy-piggle all over the place.
Then they grow up and walk like the rest of us. “
niallhope
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