One of the founder members of Ballyfermot Writers’ Group, Declan Geraghty, has granted me the privilege of publishing one of his poems. Stick this in your ipod and press play. It’s a humdinger. And by the way, all the writers from Ballyfermot Writers’ Group wear capes. Give it a lash there, Declan.
Me Aul Dublin Accent
Me aul Dublin accent
Sweet and lilting to the American ear
Violently ugly and notoriously pig ignorant to the middle classes
Charming to the English
To just plane annoying for country people
Pirate like to Canadians
And to continental Europeans sometimes incomprehensible
But it’s mine
It’s who I am
And where I’m from
It doesn’t make my intellect lesser than yours because my accent is strong
It doesn’t mean I have a set opinion or an agenda
It may mean I’m from a slightly less affluent tougher area than yours but that’s it
Some follow an image
Some don’t
An accent is just an accent
Mine developed in an area in the east of the country where a large part of the population spoke this way, thus making it a type regional dialect or dare I say it a “ Dublin accent ”
Maybe we think too much about such trivial things
When we talk about the aul accents.
Written by Declan Geraghty
Janey Macken Street! 