4 Limericks About Limerick

Limerick.

It’s the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland. Ahead lie Dublin, the country’s New York City, and Cork, a Boston so to speak. Behind lies Galway, a western coastal town made famous by Ed Sheeran and reminiscent of Portland, Oregon.

But in the middle is humble Limerick, a nondescript Midwest-style city known for economic stagnation and the occasional stabbing. A Cleveland if you will. (Check out the map.) Sure it produced The Cranberries and inspired the Pulitzer-Prize winning (and depressing) memoir Angela’s Ashes, but you won’t find this burg on many tourist itineraries.

And that meant that on a recent trip to Ireland, I had to check the place out. If nothing else, it would provide inspiration for a few limericks, those wry five-line poems with an AABBA rhyme scheme and a rather hazy connection to the city.

After a brief look around, here’s what I came up with.

 

1

Limerick, those tourist books give you no love

As if low-income housing they’re so much above

What’s wrong with the working class?

Those books can all kiss my ass

I’ll speak of your beauty, or lack thereof

 

2

The city in the middle has one nice street

It even has Starbucks, now that’s kind of neat

Just don’t look right or left

Where there’s random pocket theft

And you might start to think this dump is elite

 

3

Along the River Shannon there’s an old castle

And parking ’round here is never a hassle

The view from above is sweet

Much better than from the street

Where the drunkards all stumble and gamble

 

4

Limerick, Dublin and Galway you are not

But you still manage to offer a lot

You’re a bit like the Rust Belt

The Emerald Isle’s lost Celt

The one that all the damn tourists forgot