Buying Winkles by Paula Meehan
My mother would spare me sixpence and say,
‘Hurry up now and don’t be talking to strange
men on the way.’ I’d dash from the ghosts
on the stairs where the bulb had blown
out into Gardiner Street, all relief.
A bonus if the moon was in the strip of sky
between the tall houses, or stars out,
but even in rain I was happy – the winkles
would be wet and glisten blue like little
night skies themselves. I’d hold the tanner tight
and jump every crack in the pavement,
I’d wave up to women at sills or those
lingering in doorways and weave a glad path through
men heading out for the night.
She’d be sitting outside the Rosebowl Bar
on an orange-crate, a pram loaded
with pails of winkles before her.
When the bar doors swung open they’d leak
the smell of men together with drink
and I’d see light in golden mirrors.
I envied each soul in the hot interior.
I’d ask her again to show me the right way
to do it. She’d take a pin from her shawl –
‘Open the eyelid. So. Stick it in
till you feel a grip, then slither him out.
Gently, mind.’ The sweetest extra winkle
that brought the sea to me.
‘Tell yer Ma I picked them fresh this morning.’
I’d bear the newspaper twists
bulging fat with winkles
proudly home, like torches.
Theme(s)
- Childhood
- Memories
Poetic Techniques
- Similes
- Sibilance
- Assonance
- Alliteration
- Colloquial language
Rhyme + Structure
- 31 lines
- 4 stanzas
- Opening of poem rhyme ‘say’ + ‘way’
- creates lyrical
- Simple rhyme - childlike language
- ‘Winkles/would be wet’ continues this lyrical rhyme scheme
Tone + Mood
- Nostalgic
- Reflective
Imagery
- Young child running from the dark
- Skipping cracks in the pavement
- Tenement buildings, city scape
- Women standing in doorways, leaning out windows
- Men in a crowded pub
- Stall holder in a shawl, selling winkles
Symbolism
- The dark stairway could symbolise the poverty and bleakness of tenement life
- “ghosts on the stairs” possibly represent the child’s imagination thinking of ghosts and monsters, but could also allude to the people who lived in the building that died, as the mortality rates during the tenement life was extremely high
- The girl carrying the wrapped winkles like torches symbolises the triumph the girl feels, like an olympian