The Puck Poets

There have been a few blogs hereabouts with some public poetry in  Galway.

Recently, I spotted a lot of poetry plaques close to the statue of King Puck in Killorglin.

I think I do prefer the Galway style of the poems located in different locations, somewhere we they can surprise and improve the day. I thought Killorglin was a bit of an overload.

“Come perch upon the barrel’s edge
And slug the porter down,
We’ll swap tales of the tinker men,
With women lean and brown,
Who sing the roads when old King Puck
Reigns in Killorglin town.”



Sigerson Clifford 1955

“On the sky soaring summits of Kerry’s famed Reeks,
Where loud roaring thunder with lighting tongue speaks,
Where the crash of the tempest beats fierce on my throne,
A monarch I rule, undisputed, alone.”

J. T. Gallagher 1906

“The shades of the evening were falling,

‘Twas the eve of a bright winter’s day,

The lights of Killorglin were shining

And the porter and all went astray.”

James Cahillane 1918

“You wonder at the honour

Bestowed on common goat,

The custom has its origin

Before historians wrote”

John Thade O’Riordan 1940

“The town is called Killorglin,

A pretty place to view,

But what makes it interesting

Is my Bridget Donoghue.”

Johnny Patterson 1876 (also)

“Then brave and high against the sky

King Puck was raised instate,

And all along the merry throng

Rang out the echoes great.”

Anon. circa 1930

“We are the boys of Meanus,

We’re fit for every game,

Although we’re fit in number,

We’re sportsmen just the same.”

Jer Hartnett 1945

“’Twas a fair when no other was talked of,

With its fame in the mists of the past,

And with all but the few customs departed,

King Puck defies change to the last.”

C. Maine 1934

“There’s a small little town called Killorglin,

With a hill for a heart that is high,

And the Laune is the blood that runs through it,

A river both noble and shy’

Edsa Crowley 1988