USA

Well, that was fun.

We are home and safe and jetlagged. I mean to fill in the details of our final days in Galway at some point, and I'd like to return to some previous posts for small edits and corrections and prettification, but I'm a wee bit tired for it now. Instead:

Behan Explains the Difference Between Poetry and Prose
Our guide on the Literary Pub Crawl in Dublin told us that, on a trip to Canada, the playwrite and consumate drunk Brendan Behan was asked by a reporter to explain the difference between poetry and prose. It's not a very sophisticated question, and I can't find much internet sourcing to back it up, but here's Behan's answer as our Rowan Atkinson-esque tour guide told it, to the best of my memory and reconstructive efforts:

There once was a young man of Black Rock
Who worked for Castor and Pollox
He took a long walk
Along the Dollymont Dock
Where the water came up to his ... knees.
"Now that's prose," said Behan, "but if the tide had been in, it've been f*cking poetry!"

Update: Al found a more authoritative version here, though the author of the page is just as skeptical of the quote's authenticity as we are here:

"There was a young fellah named Rollocks
Who worked for Ferrier Pollocks.
As he walked on the Strand
With his girl by the hand
The tide came up to his knees.
Now that's prose. If the tide had been in, it would have been poetry."

Goodbye, Ireland -- you were swell. See you in the next life.