Things He Will Miss

His son growing in time to look like him; The way that his girlfriends face will age; How they will nish building Clondalkin; How other racers memories of him will fade Until his name becomes a mere postscript, With younger drivers oblivious to his feats As they video each other turning doughnuts, Cocooned behind tinted glass and sun strips. How the buzz fades from woofers and wheelspins When one night you cease to feel indestructible; How sons are meant to shoulder their parents cofns Not leave them to shoulder the ache of absence. He will miss his son playing football in the park, Cadging cash for dates, slagging his music tastes. He will miss hearing the boy drive off into the dark, The purgatory of night hours spent lying awake. - Dermot Bolger

The Clondalkin Suite, a sequence of poems by Dermot Bolger, from part of his work in progress entitled County Lives. Commissioned by South Dublin County Council through In Context 3 and funded under the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Governments Per Cent for Art Scheme, The Clondalkin Suite is being displayed across Clondalkin. Their texts can be downloaded at http://incontext.southdublin.ie/ where comments may also be left for the author. Between the January 1st and March 30th 2008, people who live or work in South Dublin County are invited to submit to the author, via this website, up to three original poems that reect some aspect of their lives within the county. In September 2008, the full text of County Lives will be published, consisting of Dermot Bolgers original sequence interlinked with a representative cross section of submitted poems by other authors. Designed and produced by Yellowstone Communications Design 670 4200.