There were sparks of Kerry madness in the air in Dublin this week. Noel O'Grady sang. Billy Keane, Listowel publican and eldest son of the great playwright, John B. Keane, recited a poem. And Prof Brendan Kennelly declared his love of John B.'s "wobbly knees". Launching John B. Keane: Playwright of the People, a collection of tributes, Kennelly spoke about his friendship with the late Keane.
"I loved his knees," he said. "They were wobbly knees. You'd think he was going to fall, but in fact he had a great free-kick."
The book, he added, gives us "a few aspects of John B.'s character and genius". It's a chance to relish the playwright's family as well as his "dramatic genius, his far-reaching humanity, his love of singing, his Christ, his people, his whiskey, his football and the River Feale".
Kennelly also mentioned Keane's love of the "town of Listowel, its people, their language, the Stack Mountains, his deep unflaunted spirituality, his generosity, his love of dignity, of justice for women at a time when the mother wasn't even mentioned, his sheer love of living, and his courage confronting death".
Keane had "earned the respect of every man, woman and child in the town", said Maria O'Gorman, chairwoman of Listowel Town Council, when she took the microphone. Jimmy Deenihan TD, chair of North Kerry Literary Trust, which has published the book, told the gathering in the National Museum: "John B. loved to have a big group of people around him."
Friends from Co Kerry who came to the launch included Éamonn Ó Murchú, of Coláiste Mhuire, Marino; Mayor of Kerry Ned O'Sullivan; Senator Joe O'Toole; Maurice McMahon, son of writer Bryan McMahon; and Sheena Barry, a Dublin-based solicitor from Co Kerry.
John B. Keane: Playwright of the People is published by North Kerry Literary Trust