For about 300 years Dubliners have been creating ballads, ‘rec-im-itations’ and parodies — commenting in verse form — with a mischievous disregard for both the laws of libel and the canons of poetry — on everything from social events, public affairs, the city’s monuments and institutions, politics, murder cases and sporting events, to their fellow citizens and street characters.

Many of the ballads, in addition to showing the Dubliner’s instinct for the value of words and wit, also provide an easily accessible guide to the ordinary occurrences of life in the city and a glimpse into traditions of the past. This is the tradition in which Vincent Caprani writes. So if you want to be reminded of what happened to Gough’s Statue in the ‘Phaynix Park’, to learn more about The Whore of Hackballscross, or if you want to be entertained by ‘pomes’ that are by turns funny, touching and nostalgic, this is the very book for you.