Ronnie McGinn's Poetry Page
| If you have a poem you'd like to see published in The Irish Examiner then send it to:
The Poetry Corner
The Irish Examiner USA
1040 Jackson Avenue, Third Floor
Long Island City
NY 11101
or, preferably, you can email it direct to
ronniemcginn@eircom.net.
If possible keep your poem to 20 lines. You may choose any subject you like, in any form you like as long as it's original. We look forward to hearing from you. |
Immigration is once again playing a major role in Irish society; in spite of our history, it seems our leaders are doomed to repeat it, perhaps one gets what one votes for, or maybe we don't?
Frank Lee from Douglas in Cork, Ireland presents us with a poem set in an earlier era. Frank's poem illuminates a social focal point that became a landmark for the London Irish.
In doing so he pays tribute to J.M. O'Neill, a publican, playwright and author who founded the First pub theatre in London for the Irish - the Sugawn in the Duke of Wellington pub on Ball's Pond Road.
The Súgan London
From the hungry Fifties they flee
Battered cases tied with twine -
A digs near the tube in Battersea
To work on a new Underground line.
From Cricklewood to Kentish Town
They drank whenever they could -
Between the Galtymore and the Crown
The auld craic was mighty good!
Tumbled out of their own land
Exported over again by the load
A Limerick man then took a stand
In a pub on Ball's Pond Road!
From folk music to one act plays
He gave the lonely Irish a home
Where art and new drama raised
The spirits of those who roam!
In the Súgan on Ball's Pond Road
They laughed and danced a reel
As acting nights lifted a weary load
Under the guiding hand of JM O'Neill.
Today Open Cut and Duffy is Dead
Still herald a new London dawn-
For wherever Irish novels are read
It's a lasting tribute to the Súgan!
© Frank Lee
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