Thursday 9 October 2008

Yeats Would Turn in His Grave



It’s National Poetry Day, and don’t you know it?
I fancy myself as a bit of a poet.
So prepare yourselves, crime fiction fans,
For today I’ll rhyme as much as I can.

“So, what’s the craic today?” You’re probably wondering.
Well, you know that Dec Burke is Stateside a-wandering.
But it seems that book promotion has slipped down his agenda
Now he’s become a grand theft bicycle abettah*!

But not only that, he’s still making waves
Among the American media enclaves
So check out this link to the Seattle News**
Where The Big O gets yet another review.


*Common American pronunciation of ‘abetter’, doncha know?

** It's the Seattle Times, but that would have messed with my rhyming. Call it poetic licence.

12 comments:

Peter Rozovsky said...

Speaking o' rhyme, I had my pronunciation of "slainte" corrected last night, which shoots to hell a nice little Irish-Dutch rhyme I'd been cooking up.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

Michael Stone said...

How is slainte pronounced? More to the point, what does it mean: goodbye?

Gerard Brennan said...

Peter - This gap in your learning
I find quite concerning.
In Belfast I'm sure we raised glasses.
I believe I then said it
and to my own credit
In school I took Gaelic classes.

Mike - It's pronounced slawn-cha and it's traditionally said over pints. Like 'cheers' (big ears).

gb

Michael Stone said...

Ye say Slainte is pronounced slawn-cha?
That's a wee toughie to find a rhyme fah.

The only thing I can think of is oranges,
Cuz that rhymes with everything,
According to Mr McKinty,
And he's always right.
Int he?

Gerard Brennan said...

Mike - You're getting good
At this aul game
Rhyming like a pro
Putting me to shame.
My hat's off to you
You clever sod
You even managed
To give Adrian a nod!

gb

Michael Stone said...

*thinks*

This boy's quick to reply,
Spinning words on the fly.
I must dream up something witty,
So I'll be sitting smug and pretty.
But wait! The hour's gone midnight,
It's Poetry Day no more,
So I make no apology
For the lack of rhyme, meter or anything else that conveys a sense of poetry.

*bows*

Good night.

Anonymous said...

I prefer my imagined pronounciation.
I guess originally it was a toast to good health,like Santé in French or Salute in my own Italian.
Following the link to the review of The Big O,(I'm halwfay through and enjoying very much) I had the nice surprise of seeing the review of Amara Lakhous' "Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio" ;didn't know it had been translated.
For when you feel like trying a non Ni/Irish novel again,I recommend it highly.

Ciao,
Marco

Gerard Brennan said...

Mike - I take my hat off to you. Too funny.

Marco - I'll bear that recommendation in mind. I usually read more widely, but this year I've focused in on the Irish side of things because of this blog. It'll be nice to look beyond the genre.

gb

Anonymous said...

I've noticed that this month's Words Without Borders has an
of the book I've told you about in this post and an href="http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/?lab=RutaInterviewLakhous">interview
with the author,so you can see for yourself if it's your thing or not

Ciao,
Marco

Anonymous said...

Didn't go very well with the hyperlink -here's also the
I/V

Gerard Brennan said...

Marco - Thanks for the link. Very interesting stuff. The idea that it could be dangerous to study philosophy seems absurd, but intriguing from a writer's point of view.

His work does sound like my kind of thing.

Cheers

gb

Anonymous said...

This link leads to an excerpt
Glad you liked the i/v
Ciao
Marco