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day I was heading down to Tara Street to head hom
e and the fucking Royal jeep is coming again and this time she really waved and I waved back.” I VISUALISE MY DEATH I will go down to the water’s edge in Malahide because it is time. Da will be there in the boat. He will smile. “You’re coming over” he will say. He knows. “Yes I am. It’s lovely to see you.” “Come on” he will say. “Ta is waiting.” A smile of joy will warm me. He will not need to help me over the side. Everything will be easy. Da will pull on the oars and away we will go crossing over to the island, forever getting there. – I Thought You Died Years Ago (2009) “Pussy cats even do drugs. My cat Marvin gets catnip and he’s like ‘yeah, let’s go pal’ they love it. I ought to try it myself.” T: What is your day like? P: “I get up at half twelve, I don’t have to get dressed cause I’m already dressed, it’s too much work, so I get out of bed and then I’m ready. I come down the stairs which takes about 20 minutes, then I come in here and I freshen Marvin’s food and go out the front and replace the water in his dish and then I collapse into that chair and I am in that chair until 1 when my carer arrives. Then I spend the rest of the day in this chair until it is time to get up the stairs. That’s it, that’s it.” T: “Did you ever think of moving the bed down?” P: I was explaining to my physio that it was exercise and she was like, ‘it’s not, it’s not’ and is trying to persuade me to get a stair lift. I’ve had over 40 falls with the polio and never been damaged but all it takes it once.” T: “When did you have the heart?” P: “Six or seven years.” T: “And it’s alright?” P: “Presume so.” T: “By-pass?” P: “Don’t know.” T: “Did they have to open up the chest?” P: “They did, yeah. Brilliant scar, ah man, mister cool. There’s only me and you now, is there? People get streets names after them Tom, do you think we might? We’re going to be famous Tom - the two remaining Dublin auld fellas.” ● The Peculiar Sensation of Being Pat Ingoldsby screens on Sunday September 25 at 8pm as part of the IFI documentary festival and goes on general release on November 4. In Dublin They Really Tell You Things, Pat Ingoldsby - Selected Poems, 1986-2021 is available now from MOLI, €25 Still Crazy After All These Years, a retrospective of Tom’s work, will be shown in Dublin in early 2023. Tersky’s Restaurant, Tom’s new book of poetry, will be published by Little Gull this autumn. 25