My uncle John made a song about his friends
He called it ‘The Attawalla Band’
That’s the way with peasantry and poetry
Make a rhyme you always can command
Before the times of writing and of script
Oral tradition is the thing
Tell the story in a rhyme easy to recall
Tell it out or even let it sing
In my mother’s glen a man they called the poet
McMenamin his name and that’s a rhyme
He’s credited with the song that’s now immortal
And Uncle John part author at the time
Sung so many times and many know it
Aunty Sarah sang it oft with pride
The story of her place and of her people
Its name, of course, ‘Down by Glencullen Side’
Today a man John Agard has been honoured
For poetry so agile and such fun
Humour is his weapon when he’s serious
Disarm your foe by tickling his tum
He writes about his life in Clapham Common
A place I knew so well so long ago
Enjoyed a pint played football watched old Concorde fly
Concorde’s gone but words are here you know
Brian Fahy
9 November 2021
Erris Poetry 