Blue Book of Eccles

An Explicated Sonnet

Lose me uselessly blue book of Eccles,
cross Sandymount with lovers arm in arm,
this trip to the city doubles in charm,
learn these old streets as your face's freckles,
and we shall cackle through night town's trial
just collapse in a pile of giggle fits
at what Leopold Bloom did with tidbits
for all the world's stage whose plays bring a smile.
Everyone loves to go out to the show
and we spent the longest day in reading
in bed with Molly as she starts bleeding
and I learn so much of a poet's prose
of knotted pictures painted in letters
whose hard bounds become this poet's fetters.

Undoubtedly the most romantic day of my life was June 16, 2022. I had talked my professor on a study abroad trip into ditching Galway in exchange for Dublin on Bloom’s Day. My wife Jessica was with me, and this was her first time across the pond. We left June 15, early in the morning, arrived in the afternoon, and spent the day visiting sites from the novel. On June 16 proper, Jessica and I attended a six hour reading of the last two chapters of Ulysses. As a comparison the hardest theater experience I had before this was all three of the extended editions of Lord of the Rings in a single setting. This was half as long but twice as hard. Luckily the talented endurance of Barry McGovern ensured this was a successful performance.

One minute I’m looking at the door to number seven Eccles’ street commemoratively installed across the way from Davy Byrne’s and the next I’m hearing about Bloom struggling to unlock this exact same door!

Six hours of an old guy reading a book while we were in a city like Dublin. Jessica did this for me. Jessica did this for me, and at this point, she hadn’t read any Joyce at all. It seems crazy in hindsight, but I was determined, and she must really love me a lot.

See, I had been reading the novel the entire study abroad trip. It was an extremely successful deep dive into Irish culture and history that provided much of the context required to “get” the novel. This was my second time through and with some planning and effort this performance would be my completion of the novel on Bloom’s Day in Dublin on the hundredth anniversary of the publication of Ulysses. You can see the date of this achievement on the ticket.

Some people say they have a hard time visualizing Ulysses. I’m afraid the only cure for this is to go to Dublin and see it. You can still buy the soap at Sweny’s, eat a grilled cheese at Davy Byrnes, pay respects at Glasnevin, collect sea shells on Sandymount Strand, and visit the top of the Martello tower. Once you do these things, you can’t unsee them when you approach the novel with fresh eyes.

It might sound ridiculous to say that you have to travel to a place to really get a novel. I think of it as an opportunity to visit Middle-Earth, or ancient Troy. There is just something about being in the place.