Under Construction by Roger Cummiskey

Under Construction: A poem celebrating James Joyce.

I am genius I am Joyce.
A Dubliner of some renown
Hated, reviled, admired;
Poet and critic.
Ten years I had to wait for
Dubliners to be published
For pittance
Because I’m genius
Because I’m Joyce.
Yes, James Jaysas Joyce.


A Portrait helped,
Years and years to complete Ulysses
The greatest daytime novel of all time.
Teaching English as a foreign language
In Trieste and Zurich.
Patronized by a woman of Faith
Though I had none, Harriet Weaver.
Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare in Paris
My office
And Nora my model, inseparable;
Hemingway carried me over his shoulder
Drunk, we sang, argued, danced,
Played the piano and guitar.

Dublin, my town, 1904 my year
And 16th June my day;
But all wanted to know, in their
Ignorance if they featured,
And did they what.
They suffered for their lack of faith
In James Jaysas Joyce
Because I’m genius because I’m Joyce.


Mine eyes are a bitch
I’ve moved and moved
Borrowed and borrowed
Written and written.
Blind Homer helped the plot
And Ibsen influenced
So did Gogarty ha! ha!
Beckett learned.
Wild geese abroad.
Bloom was Israelite
One for Molly.
Budgen my pal.



Chamber Music and Pomes Penyeach
Kept debtors at bay.
Then the greatest night time novel
Of all time got out of the Traps.
Anna Livia Plurabelle and H.C.Earwicker
Thought their way through the night
Towards the sea
Work in Progress.
Tim Finnegan had lived at Watling Street
Twins Shaun and Shem come into their own.
Because I’m genius because I’m Joyce.
Yes, James Jaysas Joyce.



RTC.

Under Construction a poem by Roger Cummiskey celebrating James Joyce.
© 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004.
AUTHOR: ROGER CUMMISKEY, 1998
CONSTRUCTION UPDATES: JANUARY 2000, SEPTEMBER, 2000, APRIL 2002, JANUARY 2004.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FOR BLOOMSDAY 1998 BY THE IRISH TIMES NEWSPAPER

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