In liver gravy Bloom mashed mashed potatoes is

my annual Bloomsday poem

It’s Bloomsday once again, which means a lot to fans of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and to me, because it is also my birthday.

I invite all of you to take a beat away from the drudgery and remember Bloomsday. This poem is my weird attempt to help you with that. Also, I have a piece up at the Soaring Twenties Social Club that’s more about what Bloomsday is, and how you can celebrate it your way.

But first, the poem. This riffs off one of my favorite episodes in Ulysses, the Sirens episode, where Simon Dedalus sings and drinks at the Ormond Hotel, and Bloom ( I believe in the next room ) listens on while eating a late lunch. The first line of the poem is from that episode, “In liver gravy Bloom mashed mashed potatoes”, which is so much fun to say. If you’ve struggled with Ulysses, first remember that the language is absolutely beautiful, and just go with it.

Here is the poem.

For the sake of the day, I’m going to give an audio recording of the poem, although I think the sound quality is not great ( nor am I a fan of my lilt ):