IN NOVEMBER OF 2023, CLOGH WRITERS GROUP LAUNCHED ‘WHERE I AM’, A COLLECTION OF POETRY AND PROSE FROM ELEVEN DIFFERENT WRITERS. AS CO-ORDINATOR OF THE WRITERS GROUP JANE MEALLY SAID: “WHERE I AM” IS A PUBLICATION WHERE EACH WRITER COMMUNICATES THEIR PASSION TO THE READER.”
Having attended the launch in Clogh, The Kilkenny Observer Newspaper was quite taken with not only the publication, but the work ethic of the writers group. Over the last number of weeks we have reproduced work from that publication, and today we conclude with the final two pieces as we feature ‘First Communion’ by Denise Curtin Dunne who was the Project Co-ordinator of the project and ‘Corner Boys’ by Lal Curtin
Corner Boys
Lal Curtin
Sitting in the garden one day, the sun making me lazy; thoughts that drifted through my head came from nowhere. Don’t ask me why, but the words ‘Corner Boys’ appeared like a newspaper headline and stayed there. Letting the words slowly come out, I said to myself, ‘Corner Boys, where did they go?’ There is no such species now; they are extinct like the dinosaurs. Racking my brains, I tried to remember when they disappeared from our streets, but I couldn’t!
Corner Boys weren’t ‘boys’, but grown men who took up their positions every day, hail, rain or snow on the corners of the main thoroughfares of every town and village in Ireland. I remember Miss Dallon’s corner-shop, (it looked like it was part of the Leinster Arms Hotel); it sold cigarettes, sweets and ice-creams. This was a place our Corner Boys liked, because from there they had a full view of The Square. Carolan’s Newsagent’s across the street provided them with the same observational point. These men always took up their positions facing out towards The Square, and never around the corner at Stanhope Street (where Bradburys had opened their first shop).
The more I thought about Corner Boys, the more amazed I was. They had disappeared without notice; no mention in the papers and not even a remark passed in casual conversation. If it was now, it would be on RTE or SKY News. Even Mr. Trump might have tweeted about it! A friend I mentioned it to, thought that Daytime TV might have something to do with their disappearance. If so, they would have had to change their way of life drastically and
might have missed the company of other men and the bit of craic! Some Smart Alec I spoke with said it was the increase of the motor-car and exhaust fumes that shifted them! Someone else said they had all died out and the next generation had more sense. I don’t think it had anything to do with any of this. Opportunities maybe? Could this be the answer to the disappearance of Corner Boys? Jobs and money won out and a whole way of life changed. Did it happen slowly, or were they gone overnight? I can’t remember to tell the truth; I didn’t notice.
But, I do remember their coughing and spitting. Many’s the time you had to step off the footpath! However it could have been to clear the throat before the next piece of ‘expert opinion’ was expressed on how the country should be run! I could be wrong, but I’d say the price of the pint was well discussed and not only on Budget Day! The mini- skirt probably merited more than a few words and who knows this could have gone on for a couple of hours. I do remember the odd elbow and wink when a good looking girl walked by. The cap would be straightened and the fag butt sucked in; gestures that told you all! Oh to have been a fly on the wall!
Well I have no answer to my question and I’m sure there is no reference to their existence in any history book or annals. They were a part of life and I can’t ever remember giving them a second thought. It’s just me being contrary as after all these years I’ve noticed they aren’t there any longer. Now I want to know why?
First Communion
Denise Curtin Dunne
( Project Co-ordinator)
Athy 1963
There we were and there we will always be, A parade of budding happy souls, Perfume in the nuns’ garden,
Walking along pathways lined with summer and heaven, Fervent little hearts, dizzy on words of paradise,
Songs and hymns and prayers, Newborn angels, First Communicants, May-light shining in our shiny eyes.
And in our May procession, Something everlasting happened,
Dressed in white and youth and wonder, We tasted a new sacrament,
The heart and soul of beauty.
