The simple act
of saying

hello in our household

was a bit of a
mouthful:

like doing musical
scales.

There was 10 of us
to get through

as you came through
the Dempsey front door

riffing on the
abbreviation of our

pet names
so

Donall became Do.

Deirdre became Dee.

Blathin became Blathi became Bla became Bla Bla!

Etc.,
etc.,
etc.

So if you were to go
on a virtual reality tour

of me aged...oh
I don't know

bursting in from scholl

we sounded something
a little like this:

'Hi Dee! '
('Hi Do! ')

'lo Lo....'lo Do! '

'Hi Bi! '
'Hi Mi! '

('Hi Doooo! ')

'Hiya Gra! '
'Hiya Bar! '

('Hiya Dooo! ')

'BlaBla! '
'DoDo! '

OOOOoooops...there's Me.
going pellmell

(no time to say hello!)

Junie is
always Junie

& at the heart
of it all

me Ma
(who had the makings
of us all)

greeted both
with hug & kiss
(X & X)

& her first name:
''lo lovely lovely Ita! ')

us all waiting for my father
to bicycle down the hill

the sheer thrill of him

as we all screamed
& squealed:

'Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! '


(For the 'Hi Bi! ' part of the poem)

Dónall Dempsey

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/say-hello-to-the-dempseys/