Danny Boy (Insight)

Danny Boy is the title for my first piece of my (hopefully) upcoming poetry book titled Bottled Tears Spoil to Rage. It was originally titled ‘Lucian’ based on a random evil sounding name (sorry to all the Lucians out there) that I was reminded of due to a co-worker. I changed the title to make it more personal and give it more depth in relation to what I wanted to convey for the book. It tells the story of the early childhood of an alter ego of mine, that I created for the book. In the context of the poem, it may seem like the child dies, but in the context of the entire book, he survives and the course of his life is shifted down a villainous path. ‘Danny’ grows increasingly disturbed the older he gets and the more he understands the world. In terms of the inspirations for this poem/short story hybrid, there are two. The first of which inspired the theme for this piece, which is the song and video Happy Birthday by Joyner Lucas. The song is about a father that hates his young son, there’s a particularly interesting twist in the third verse that adds clarity to the reasoning behind this. I appreciate good storytelling in music, and it inspires me to try and hone my own skills. The second inspiration actually comes from probably my favorite short story; There’s a Man in The Woods by Jacob Streilein. I love the way the rhyme scheme seamlessly flows and transitions from one beat to the next. I tried to capture that same kind of energy in my own way. My writing tends to be dark, so matching the tone of both my inspirations for this piece wasn’t hard for me. I hope you enjoy reading Danny Boy by Daniel Peiffer.