New Poem about St. William's School, 1956

Mrs. Geraldine Dempsey Speaks Out About Elvis

(Euclid, Ohio, 1956)

We third graders didn’t know much about Elvis,
But we would walk around St. William’s playground singing “Hound Dog.”

Mrs. Geraldine Dempsey was not amused:

“I know what you’re singing—by that hoodlum Elvis Presley.
Do you know he drives around Memphis in his expensive, fancy machine?
And he doesn’t believe in marriage.
He once said, ‘Why get married
When you can milk the cow
From the other side of the fence.’”

We hadn’t a clue what our third grade teacher meant,
Or how she knew all this stuff about Elvis.

Mrs. Dempsey’s attention turned:

“Mr. Talty, put your galoshes in the cloak room.
And Mr. Dwyer, take your wrap back there too.
And Mr. Fitzpatrick, ‘dun do bhéal,’ shut your mouth,”
The old Gaelic phrase slipping out.

“Now class, let’s say the ‘Hail Mary.’”

It was 1956, Euclid, Ohio,
The age of rock and roll,
And Mrs. Dempsey was just peaking out of Ireland of the Middle Ages.

[Robert M. Coughlin
Kirtland, Ohio
April 9, 2008]