Playing Boats

for Cassie

Running for the river
she barely breaks her stride
to pluck a yellow dandelion;
while I take time to choose
a broad, tapering leaf –
not too green.

And here we come!
her in front, approaching the first fall.
Down ... under; then up she bobs –
snagging on a rock
while I career on into calmer waters.

But now she’s wriggling, and free!
Rotating, gathering momentum
until we’re finally neck and neck –
father and daughter, sailing up the Nile, the Amazon.

A whirlpool –
now I’m in difficulties
taking in water, while she shoots clear.
We watch, cheek to cheek
until her yellow head disappears
beneath overhanging trees ...

Am I sad my boat sank? She asks.

The rules are simple: if both get stuck
we throw stones to dislodge ourselves
or run ahead, removing obstacles.
But what if one fails to make the start:
will our game not then be over?

Come on, she coaxes, chiding
my dark cloud, swiping another flower
holding it under my chin.

This time I seek a fresher,
more robust leaf.
Best of three, I say –
let’s see that dandelion spin!

Review by Kevin Higgins, The Galway Advertiser

"Pete Mullineaux's collection, A Father's Day, has been a long time in the making. His first published poem appeared in a Macmillan anthology when he was 13 years old. He has since been a member of a punk band, a singer-songwriter, and MC of the Cuirt Poetry Grand slam. Mullineaux is a profoundly sensitive poet, something for which I don't think he gets the credit he deserves.

His poem Tonight's The Night is the tender and humorous telling of how once "1975 (I think)" brought his dad to a Neil Young concert: "he wore his suit (Dad, that is -/Neil Young wore a tie-dye shirt.)" It was one of those might-have-been mistakes, which worked out great in the end. Mullineaux surmises that after the concert the "band went back to the hotel/and talked about the old guy in the third from back row/who had smiled all through the concert/and wondered what he was taking..."

Many of the poems investigate his relationship with his father and his role now as a father himself. His Father's Day Reprise contains some lines that are so grimly funny, I'm genuinely jealous I didn't think of them first. While wandering among the Father's Day cards in Easons he's overcome with a fear that he will "take a wrong turn/and end up like Dante/in a nightmare parallel world/where the cards read: "Hard luck you failed/Miserable birthday/Christmas condolences/Commiserations on your wedding." Great stuff!'

Review by Fred Johnston - Western Writers Centre

"Simple, luminous images...Mullineaux's voice carries lilts of John Cooper-Clarke. There are poems here to make one smile, frown, think; the comedian often gives way to a serious poet indeed. A very fine book, then, and beautifully produced.'

A Letter from Pat McMahon, Head of Galway/Mayo Library Service...

"Dear Peter,

I went to the launch of your book in the City Museum on the first Saturday of June, high summer. My daughter was with me. I think you are one of the best poets in Galway….imaginative, innovative, intelligent and poetic. For all the world you remind me of the three Liverpool poets in that Penguin Mersey Sound book….Brian Patten and the others. That was one of the first books of poetry I ever bought….and it had such energy.
 
Well, as I say, I went along to the City Museum for the launch… and everything was right….a fine poet and a beautiful book. The potential of the occasion was huge.
 
When it was over, I walked up Quay Street and then Shop Street. The streets were alive….people everywhere…and one could sense the mood….people interacting etc. etc.
 
And I asked my daughter: Why weren't all of these people at the launch? Why were not even a fraction of them at the launch?  And I thought all of these people were missing out by not being at the launch…I think they were seriously missing out.
 
And I said to my daughter: the launch should have been here on Shop Street. Pete and Jessie should have been up here with the books and a table and a microphone.
 
I think the world badly needs books and reading and poetry. You know, down at the Museum that day, I nearly knew everyone in the room. I see these people at these events all the time. For you Pete and for Jesse and for the beautiful book, the room should have been packed.
 
I think we have got to do better. And I am including myself here, and the library service.
 
Thanks,
Pat McMahon.