Become well-versed in Dublin poetry with new 'map'

A ‘map’ tells the story of the city’s poems, songs and characters, says Richard Fitzpatrick.

POETRY takes centre-stage for the One City, One Book Festival in Dublin this April, for which Pat Boran and Gerard Smyth have compiled If Ever You Go: A Map of Dublin in Poetry and Song. The collection, which contains sections entitled Northside, Southside and Liffeyside, offers a remarkable picture of Dublin’s character and characters.

Inevitably, it has entries from the likes of WB Yeats, James Joyce and Paul Durcan, and must-haves, such as Patrick Kavanagh’s ‘Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal,’ but the unusual entries catch the eye, such as Ailbhe Darcy’s ‘He Tells Me I have a Strange Relationship,’ ‘Belts’, by Rudyard Kipling, and ‘The Twang Man,’ by The Dubliners.