Nobel literature laureate Seamus Heaney praised Gerry’s comic poetry, saying:
Thanks for the poem. Great swing and relish! Once upon a time I rhymed ‘stirred’ with ‘word’, but now I see that there was another alternative!” (see below)!
| Ode to Seamus Heaney an affectionate tribute by Gerry Thompson |
| The never-ending summer of our youth Was thick with fecund nuts and crunchy roots Daily we’d garnered berries, cram our guts and faces, with fermenting fleshy fruits.Or gather at the green-pond’s fetid edge And jellied-eyeball toadspawn freely take; Pull turgid eels from every slimy nook, Drag dark-striped pike from out the sloe-black lake.We followed in our father’s plough-worn path And learned hard lessons from his belt and cuff; We mastered crafts of raking up plump spuds, The roughish cut and thrust of turf and stuff.Or else we’d dig for rotting bones and skulls, Shrouded from ancient times in mist and fog; Poke at the shattered ribs of murdered Celts, Or pull full-festering corpses from the bog.Then, in the midst of summer’s sultry bake, Where the river’s sinewy outline twists and curls, We’d dive into its chilly waters, nude - Then show our shrivelled willies to the girls. My digging now is for the poem’s truths; For recognition’s hit me with brash clout Copyright Gerry Maguire Thompson 2012 Please acknowledge if quoted – many thanks |
