the backroom of the store

is not much to talk about

a small room

beer boxes and bottles

buckets of pickled meat

flies and rodents and other foreign things

an old storm door

no radio

no telephone

no amenities

no nothing

the old ones gather there

to talk

about when the fishin' was good

(sure them young fellas don't know how to fish

too fond of the drink)

what the crowd down the road is up to

(ya never can be up to that crowd)

where buddy's son is working now

(making good money too they says

even bought his mother a new washer)

to what strange young man

whose daughter is getting married

(sure and he's a queer fella but then

what would you be expectin' from a townie

they're a strange lot they are)

the lot of them gather there

in the backroom of Power's Store

waiting for some news

to walk up the road

or for some young one to join them

with a guitar and an appetite for drink

best if they have a repertoire of Irish songs

but only if they belong to a musical family

if not sure ya can't be up to that crowd

(sure they don't know how to sing

remember that time the poor child's mother

tried to rise it at the shamrock

shockin' carryin' on that was)

always the same aged yet bright eyes

the past of a proud nation

wasting and waiting away

as content as the blue

arsed flies on the salt meat bucket

and about the most beautiful thing

that this mind can recall

the things you miss get stranger

the further away that you are

 

 

 

 

“While living in Korea I missed the most unusual things, or rather, the most usual things” - Rebecca

 

Rebecca is the daughter of Ernestine (O’Rourke) and Tom

 

 

Branch Come Home Year

August 9-19, 2007

Power's Store, Branch

Rebecca Power