a bold magpie

Everyday,
I see this Magpie
stotting
in the garden
and, in its eyes,
I see Hughie Gallagher
with goals
glinting,
swayIng crowds
on the Popular Side.
It flaps its wings
and I imagine Milburn
flying 
down the pitch,
and Kevin, 
in his element,
cracking goals.
It shrieks and clatters
and I hear
the Gallowgate Roar
and the surge of hope
and despair.
Magpie
calling for his mates,
a bird as strange and awkward
as we Geordies
and just as dashing.
It is Newcastle
in all its striped plumage:
a very rare bird indeed.





KEITH ARMSTRONG


from the new issue of 'true faith' the newcastle united fanzine for which keith armstrong is poet-in-residence

boherbuoy band, limerick 1924

sounds in the night

Learning from others,
I grow.
People fill my body
and my dreams.
They shape me.
Old friends’ words
stir my own lips.
Moving, in the street
I collect the scent
of coffee and past lovers.
I scan the faces for a glance I know.
Girls I sleep with
scar me.
My skin stretches
to make room for fresh news.
I read bulletins and lines
mass on my forehead.
Voices inside my brain
stay and sing in my ears.


These sounds in the night
make my blood
dance.
I go laughing with others.
I go teaching with others.
No one is ever self-taught.
There are millions of people
in every single thought.




KEITH ARMSTRONG

garryowen

The word ''Garryowen'' is derived from Irish, the proper name Eóghan ("born of the yew tree") and the word for garden ''garrai'' - thus "Eóghan's Garden". Garryowen is also an area of the city of Limerick, Ireland.


There are many versions of lyrics for the tune 'Garryowen' but the traditional version is:

1. Let Bacchus' sons be not dismayed
But join with me, each jovial blade.
Come, drink and sing and lend your aid
To help me with the chorus:

Instead of spa, we'll drink brown ale
And pay the reckoning on the nail.
No man for debt shall go to jail
From Garryowen in glory.

2. We are the boys who take delight
In smashing Limerick lamps at night
And through the street like sportsters fight,
Tearing all before us.

Instead of spa, we'll drink brown ale
And pay the reckoning on the nail.
No man for debt shall go to jail
From Garryowen in glory.

3. We'll break the windows, we'll break down doors,
The watch knock down by threes and fours,
And let the doctors work their cures
And tinker up our bruised.

Instead of spa, we'll drink brown ale
And pay the reckoning on the nail.
No man for debt shall go to jail
From Garryowen in glory.

4. We'll beat the bailiffs out of fun,
We'll make the mayor and sheriffs run.
We are the boys no man dares dun
If he regards a whole skin.

Instead of spa, we'll drink brown ale
And pay the reckoning on the nail.
No man for debt shall go to jail
From Garryowen in glory.

5. Our hearts so stout have got us fame
For soon 'tis known from whence we came.
Where'er we go they fear the name
Of Garryowen in glory.

Instead of spa, we'll drink brown ale
And pay the reckoning on the nail.
No man for debt shall go to jail
From Garryowen in glory.

lonely man

in east berlin

two rivers meet

A unique project between Limerick’s White House Poets and Northern Voices from Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England came to fruition in April 2008 at the White House Pub in Limerick.

A special edition of ‘Revival’, the journal of the White House Poets, called ‘Two Rivers Meet – Poetry from the Shannon and the Tyne’ was launched featuring poets from the two cities. A delegation of poets from Newcastle attended a civic reception at Limerick City Hall, hosted by the Mayor Councillor Ger Fahy in the afternoon, while the book was officially launched later on that evening at the famous White House in O'Connell Street.

'This cultural twinning of our two cities', as founder of the White House Poets Barney Sheehan puts it, 'is a result of a number of visits that Geordie poet Keith Armstrong has made to Limerick over the past couple of years, culminating in him been an invited guest at last year's Cuisle Poetry Festival when he proposed that our two cities should work together to promote a greater degree of cooperation in the area of cultural exchange.'

As Sheehan explains: ‘Limerick and Newcastle are two cities with many things in common, not least the fact that two great rivers flow through them: the Shannon and the Tyne.  Both are university cities, both are great sporting cities and both have had similar difficulties in promoting the artistic, social and intellectual life of their communities in the face of negative press.The fact that our two cities should be brought together to celebrate their individual identities through poetry and that reciprocal visits should take place between our respective poetry groups is highly commendable and worthy of support'.

The White House Poets visited Newcastle in June when a group of nine poets read at a special reading to mark the English launch.  They met the Lord Mayor of Newcastle Councillor Dave Wood with the poets acting as roving cultural ambassadors for Limerick.

And Newcastle poet Armstrong visited Limerick for the fifth time at the end of October to keep links going and discuss plans for future activities between the respective cities.

The book is published through Revival Press, in association with Northern Voices, at (£5 plus £1.50 postage) and is edited by Keith Armstrong and Dominic Taylor. 

Further Info:  Keith Armstrong  0191 2529531 email k.armstrong643@btinternet.com