Adam & Eve by Edward Delaney, Fitzgerald's Park, Cork.
Fitzgerald’s Park is a
public park which is situated alongside the banks of the river Lee just outside
Cork city, on the road west leading out to the country. I used to go there a
lot after I had finished school. I was very lost and confused at the time, and
so needed a lot of time to think on my own. So, the peace of the park was
wonderful.
I was around 19, at the
time. I had been out of school for around a year or so and was pretty
directionless. After having been accepted into the Crawford Art School on the
strength of my portfolio and interview, when I did go along to register in September
I was told I couldn’t due to the fact that I hadn’t passed my final exams. This
left me in a bit of a pickle as I had nowhere to go now, and what was worse
still no direction!
For the majority of my late
childhood, I had been sketching and drawing. I even won a minor European art
competition when I was 15, so my whole family were expecting me to take the
usual route and go to art school. However, when it came to it, I actually
realised that this is not where my real talents lay. I couldn’t actually satisfy
my own artistic needs through paint or painting. So, what to do? It was really
a crossroads for me really.
Then, one day, I went out to
the park, as I would normally do, and while I was sitting there on one of the
park benches next to the pond, probably smoking countless Sweet Afton as
I was prone to do at the time, I wrote the following poem. It was an epiphany, really.
I knew from that moment forward that this was the voice, for better or worse,
that I had to follow. It was unmistakable. I was a writer, after all!
Fitzgerald’s
Park
In
memory of Edward Delaney
All
waters are Galilee.
All
banks the Jordan.
Madonna’s
all women with children.
You
don’t believe?
Look
to the garden...
See!
Adam’s got a hard on’.
Hang
up your hat,
The
sun is male,
And
the birds
Aflame.
circa 1987
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