Ever had that moment
The ‘ping!’ thing
When something so obvious hits you
Slap bang in the face
As if being slapped
By a fresh slimy wet kipper
Across the chops?
I haven’t.
Neither the idea nor the fish.
Nothing wrong with a bit
Of plagiarisation though.
The idea only cost me
One pound eighty.
Combining my two arty farty loves
If I get round to ‘arf inching it.
The clicking of a camera
And the whirring of braincells
Poetry in motion.
From the Elephant & Castle to Lewisham.
That’s how far it spread
Taking seven years to reach me.
Via the shelf of a
Red Cross charidee shop
Less than two quid and
I still had to think about it.
But brand new at nine ninety five
So still a bit of a bargain.
Being payday yesterday helped.
So are you wondering
What I have purchased?
Or just thinking..
Get on with it you blathering old fool!
Imagine my open palms
As in a game of charades
It’s a book.
But not any old book.
Combining black and white
Working class snapshots
Of a bygone age
Some before I was born
Others I can’t recall at all
As I would have been in nappies
Dockers, Miners, ordinary people
Modernised with student poetic
Interpretations opposite.
Say what you see.
‘Catchphrase’ for thinkers.
Right down my street.
Best one pound eighty
I’ll spend today.
Not least for the
Blurb on the back
By an up her own arse
Literary Agent.
“What they lack in technique
They have passion in bundles”.
Sometimes I have
Little faith in my writing
Lacking self-belief.
Not that I care what others think
As I write for myself
Not always easy to get thoughts to flow
Thanks for the inspiration, love!
Dulwich Poet 21st June 2013
(I was passing through Lewisham today, on the way to work after a hospital appointment, when-on a whim-I popped into the Red Cross charity shop. I spotted a book, which was thirty photographs by Colin Jones, each one with a poem next to it, written by a different student each time, from the London College of Communication. Such a simple idea, and one I am tempted to use, but will probably never get round to, with some of the many photos that I take, adding my words next to them.)
[Colin Jones and poems of note. Edited by Tony Wailey. Published on 2006]
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