I've been called some strange things
Like an 'urban Pam Ayres'
Somehow that's not quite true
Not that anyone cares.
I'm just that nondescript stranger
Who writes to kill time on a train
Even if it's the same old stuff
Again and again and again.
I'm an ordinary working class bloke
Trying to make of thoughts in my head
Not sure if that's what I achieve
So you get all this instead.
When I started scribbling at the start of the year
I had no idea what I meant to achieve
My personal bar wasn't set high
But in myself I now believe.
Reading in front of twenty people
Even thirty, forty or more
I'd never claim to be any good
But I know I can hold a floor.
I'm not the world's best educated
My 'O' Level count was one
I couldn't tell you a sonnet from a couplet
I simply write for fun.
I've been described as 'political'
An 'angry man' and worse
Truth is I'm a simple working class poet
Expressing himself in verse.
The first time I went to the Poetry Cafe
I had a million and one fears
And just my luck being a sober alkie
I couldn't hide behind some beers.
As I tiptoed down those rickety steps
I felt I had a mountain to climb
But as soon as I got behind that microphone
I knew this was my time.
For the last year or two I've been learning
Is there such a thing as a poetry craft?
I still sometimes can't believe it
As I shared people have laughed!
These are really cleaver people
Who've got 'A' Levels & Degrees under their hat
I'm just a South London boy called Mishi
Who grew up in a Council flat!
I'm not sure where this is going
So there's only one thing left to say
A big thank you to all who encouraged
And made me the poet I am today!
Dulwich Poet 12th December 2014
(This is, I have no idea how, the 500th poem I done since I started writing them in January last year. It is also the day before I do my first ever 'feature' at a poetry night, at Platform 1, at the Poetry Cafe, a really good night, where I have enjoyed several Open Mic spots in the past.)
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