A Trinity of Shamrock Sonnets
Spud Spouting Sonnet on Irish Greens
On Irish people and the color green in 2024
What else and what more needs to be said
Depends on the amount of whiskey you pour
It won’t hurt as it rolls around in your head
Ireland is fondly called by some the Emerald Isle
It rains a lot there and remains green year round
Many a red haired lass with Irish eyes that smile
Shamrocks found growing on the ground abound
Three stripes orange white and green on the flag
Woolen clothes horses and potatoes in the fields
Of independence from England Irishmen brag
Grains provide ample beer and whiskey yields
Musicians writers songs dance poetry and verse
In Gaelic and English one hears blessing and curse.
A Sonnet for St. Patrick’s Day
Green gewgaws appear in variety stores before Valentine’s Day
Green leprechaun t-shirts shamrock ties and hats sold by the score
Green beer everywhere a green river even runs in Chicago today
In New York’s parade Irish pipes policemen marching bands more
In Erin folks used to get up and go to morning Mass in a local church
They’d eat a simple meal of pork potatoes tea and Irish soda bread
Many Irish leave the big green commercial machine in the lurch
While underneath ladies wool scarves peeks hair of beautiful red
St. Patrick departed the Emerald Isle over fourteen hundred years ago
Kidnapped in Scotland and taken as a slave to Erin when a young boy
After six years he escaped to return in a small boat he could row
Returning as a priest bringing what became Catholic guilt and joy
Patrick is now used as an excuse for people to drink booze like a fish
From green beer to Irish whiskey dear they all wish they were Irish.
The Old Sot and The Old Sod
(an Irish-American reverie by Joey Leahy Connolly)
If I should pass out think but this of me
That there’s a small corner of this old pub
That is forever Ireland and will always be
A place you can eat some decent grub
Outside is Ireland the sot dreams aware
He’s back there in his drunken present state
Tasting Irish cheddar cheese eating pub fare
With a dark beer a corned beef cabbage plate
He’ll have one more pint drink it right away
A drop or two now of Tullamore Dew no less
Takes him back to Ireland God may it bless
Earphones sing harps strings and pipes today
Uilleann (elbow) pipes and songs by the dozen
His heart and soul at peace now in Irish heaven.
Saint Patricks Day
The “old sod” is an endearing term used by many Irish when referring to their mother country. I am of Irish-American heritage. My father’s side is from Galway, my mother’s side from Limerick. These three poems have been revised from first appearance in the Saipan Tribune on March 16, 2018.
Joey aka “Pepe Batbon” Connolly is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is the Poet Laureate of Tinian and enjoys stargazing.
