Related Stories
-
Capoeira – A display of Brazilian culture in Fermoy
-
Call for Fermoy’s free parking to extend until Christmas
-
Fears in North Cork for X8 bus service from Cork to Dublin
-
St Mary’s Church, Ballysaggart – celebrating a century of devotion
-
RTE to document ‘A day in the life of a young person in Ireland’
-
Work beginning on fish pass in Fermoy
-
Scoil Pól purchase larger bus
-
Plan to bring replica Lismore crozier becomes unstuck
-
Fermoy Men’s Shed initiative – appeal for sponsorship
-
St. Colman’s students show their support for Cork hurlers in unique way
-
Clarification sought on funding for resurfacing in Fermoy
-
Gone but not forgotten

Mayor Olive Corcoran found herself in A&E at Cork University Hospital on a recent Saturday night after a fall left her with cracked ribs.
It moved Olive, a member of the Elbow Lane Poetry Group, to pen a poem about the experience. She recited the poem at a recent poetry group gathering in Elbow Lane where it drew praise from her colleagues-in-verse.
She also sent it on to the well known potter and poet Louis Mulcahy who congratulated her on it.
The Mayor was full of praise for the hard working staff of CUH and stresses that it's the system that's at fault in leaving sick and injured people for long periods before being seen in A & Es.
Here's the Mayor's poem:
Where Have All the Politicians Gone?
Cork University Hospital
Opened rectangular jaws
In a mist, nicotine, alcohol,
Disinfectant, perspiration.
'Smoke-free zone' blared
Doggedly in the background.
Angelus bells chimed
Somewhere in the city-
Six o'clock.
Squeamishly they sat, pain
Etched in old Cork faces
They'd been there for hours,
Perched on hard adjoining chairs,
One in a wheelchair, frail,
Butterfly light, steel grey eyes
Staring at off-white walls,
Her credentials-beads in her pocket.
Eight o'clock.
Pain on hallowed, furrowed faces,
Lost in thoughts of times gone by,
When nurses perched chattily on beds.
Robots in scrubs scurried by,
Focused faces, expressionless, adamant
On health and safety issues.
The butterfly swayed in her sodden
Wheelchair, lonely, limp and lost.
Twelve o'clock.
An old man sighed, corrugated fingers
On calloused hands twitched
As he viewed the newcomers
Sip cups of tea and buttered toast,
Drooling in their drunkenness,
Broken noses, bloodied faces,
All patched up, tended to, swaying
To the exit and waiting taxis.
Two o’clock.
A child cried, a mother sighed
In silent resignation.
The butterfly silently slid
From her perch, wasted.
As I walked towards the jaws
At five o’clock, I prayed
Lord, when my time comes
Let me die in my bed, away from here,
The Cork University A&E.
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-27142231-1']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
/* * * CONFIGURATION VARIABLES * * */
var disqus_shortname = 'AvondhuPress'; var disqus_identifier = '38653'; var disqus_title = 'Mayor pens poem about her A & E experience';
/* * * DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE * * */ (function () { var dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text/javascript'; dsq.async = true; dsq.src = 'http://' + disqus_shortname + '.disqus.com/embed.js'; (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq); })();
(function () { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.async = true; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = 'http://' + disqus_shortname + '.disqus.com/count.js'; (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(s); }());
blog comments powered by Disqus