Birthday Poem

BIRTHDAY POEM

A quarter of a century gone
Tot up the score
of memories stolen from the store
Why do I bother celebrate
this yearly anniversary date
as if time meant something more
than the daily grind of fun ?
A couple of cards from mum and dad and auntie Fan
Another three of these and I'll be
getting a telegram from the Queen
Still it'll all be over and done
tomorrow anyway for an old hasbeen
but a helluva lot still to see
before the lid goes down on the old man
with but a quarter of a century gone

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 21st December 1971

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)

Saturday Night Out

SATURDAY NIGHT OUT

The turn didn't turn up
at the British Legion Club tonight
There was a bus party in from Doncaster
and a wedding party as well
A guy from the former
whose voice was reminiscent of a constipated frog
filled in with his interpretation of Tom Jones
and thought the shouts of "Encore"
meant exactly what they really didn't
Still he was good for a laugh
before bingo took over
The village barber got things going
singing "All around the world"
followed by "Let's twist again"
I borrowed another fellow's wife
to demonstrate to her how once
I was the village's champion twister
But we couldn't win at bingo
my dad and I
so we left early
went home to wife and mum's
fried tatties and bacon supper

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st December 1971

Publications

1972 THE WINE THE WOMEN AND THE SONG (Pyle, Kenfig Press)
1994 Bold Print (USA)

Nursery Rhyme

NURSERY RHYME

The cow jumped over the moon
The dish ran away with the spoon
But it had to stop when they got caught
by an American and a Russian astronaut
who ate that beast
at the first lunar feast

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Harlow, 15th November 1971

Publications

1972 Bogg (UK)
1972 Ludds Mill (UK)
1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1993 Daily Cow (USA)

Late Visit to Cambridge

LATE VISIT TO CAMBRIDGE

The river is darker now,
monopoly of the ducks.
The grass is wet with dew
and strewn with leaves
and all, but a few, brave evergreens,
display the naked bark.
The cold, damp, smokeshroud air
clings still
over a silent, city scene.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Cambridge, 14th November 1971

Publications

1972 Village Review
1990 The Old Police Station

The Worst of Loneliness

THE WORST OF LONELINESS

Loneliness is not something that is difficult to bear
alone It's only when there is someone else who's there
and you know it's something that you cannot share
It's worse when you feel it in a kiss
Loneliness is not something that is hit or miss
The impulse is going off at a tangent
There are two of them They touch but don't impact
That's the hardest fact
the potency of a force that's merely impinging
never cutting through ice
or cracking that nice
but transparent facade that always fails to impress
Once you have it there's no escape It's all duress
Facing the wall won't relieve the stress
Loneliness alone is not so hard to bear
but it's all the worse to share
with an intimate caress

© Gerald England

Composed: Sheffield, 11th November 1971

1974 New Headland (UK)
1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1992 International Poetry (USA)
1993 Dial 174 (USA)

(41)

penny for the guy ?
for him ? - if you're for him then
why do you burn him ?

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 5th November 1971

Publication

1985 National Poetry Convention Magazine (UK)

Third Meeting with Chicken

THIRD MEETING WITH CHICKEN

The sandwiches
were liberally salted
Appetite
was a two-edged sword
Thaw was attempted
A fuse was blown
and a double No
became the remains
of
cold chicken

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 1st November 1971

Publications

1975 Ludds Mill (UK)
1990 Sword of Shahrazad (UK)
1991 Impetus (USA)
1996 Target (UK)

Poem for a Poet

POEM FOR A POET

her silkhair flowed like her words
her laughter rang clear as the sound of her words
her eyes pierced the sorrow of her words
her poise was wordform
the poem was the poet
and the poet became the poem

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 20th October 1971

Publications

1972 THE WINE THE WOMEN AND THE SONG (Pyle, Kenfig Press)
1973 Datr (UK)
1990 International Poetry Suplemento (USA)

Chicken on Ice

CHICKEN ON ICE

     Chips were thawed,
     cooked in fat
     A metal-foiled roast
     emerged from
                        gas
                        oven
     The trimmings too
     were tasty
     Willi Boskovsky
     conducting Strauss
     cut sounds
     in the air
     But at the rink,
     skating,
     chicken fell
     on the ice,
     picked herself up
     and
     cried
     into cider.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 15th October 1971

Publications

1984 The Old Police Station (UK)
1996 Target (UK)

Chicken on the Moor

CHICKEN ON THE MOOR

Sitting
in the car
on the fog-surrounded moors
waiting
for orders
to abandon position,
chicken
shone up in my headlights;
dipped,
they ran the road
Out of the mist
chicken emerged
boiled in a saucepan
The later safety
of the city
dispelled the haze
Chicken
couldn't
cause
indigestion

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 14th October 1971

Publication

1996 Target (UK)

Veronica

Composed: Sheffield, 10th October 1971

Publications

1972 THE WINE THE WOMEN AND THE SONG (Pyle, Kenfig Press)
1972 Stillborn (UK)
1982 Global Tapestry Journal (UK)
1988 Agog (London, UK)
1991 Hybrid (UK)
1996 Boggers All (UK)

Note: Some publications using the title Miss V.

Bourton on the Water: Model of Commercialism

BOURTON ON THE WATER: MODEL OF COMMERCIALISM

The village sits snugly
by the Windrush river
Double-yellow lines adorn the side
of the main road
The parking-lots are filled
The cafes, snackbars and restaurants
provide food for every pocket
from the expensive upwards
The prices are fixed for entry
to the model village,
the model railway,
the tropical birdland
The souvenir shops
price up their paraphernalia
in dollars as well as pounds
The wooden seat by the riverside
was presented to the village
by the Chamber of Commerce

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Bourton on the Water, 9th September 1971

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1989 Aireings (UK)

Cause and Effect: Reflections at Keat's House

CAUSE AND EFFECT: REFLECTIONS AT KEAT'S HOUSE

That a poet lived here
wrote here
was nursed in sickness here
is not to be denied

The house is
visited by
fanatics
admirers
and other interested parties
whose interest
may be aroused
by the saved
relics
of the past
that have outlived the writer
and tend
to take
to the casual lookerin
a greater import
than the poetry
without which
the decay of time
would have destroyed
leaving only the
poetry

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: London, 1st September 1971

Publications

1972 Hallamshire & Osgoldcross Poetry Express (UK)
1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1990 EDITOR'S DILEMMA (Ashton under Lyne, New Hope International)
2000 Breathe (UK)

And Having Killed Two Birds

AND HAVING KILLED TWO BIRDS

And having killed two birds with one stone
he attempted by a series of manipulative procedures
to perfect his exterminatory techniques
He succeeded shortly in swatting seven flies with one swipe of the Daily Express
His attention turned then to the possibilities of ants
His boot covered nearly half the hill's area
and six hundred bodies lay squashed in the mire
The survivors crawled quickly over his boot
up his trouser leg to his private parts

Before the first ant reached his navel
he fell over screaming at the pain of the stings
His head cracked open on a stone, brains and blood spilling out,
the red and the grey and the black merging
as two birds flew down, each to peck one eye

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 29th June 1971

Publications

1972 Wormwood Review (USA)
1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1990 La Carta de Oliver (Argentina)

*****
Y HABIENDO MATADO DOS PAJAROS

   Y habiendo matado dos pajaros una piedra
   el intento con una serie de procedimientos manipuladores
   perfeccionar sus tecnicas exterminadoras
   En sequida tuvo exito dando un subito golpe a siete moscas
                    con el Daily Express
   Su atencion se centro luego en las posibilidades con
                    hormigas
   Su bota cubria cerca de la mitad del terreno de la colina
   y seiscientos cuerpos yacian aplastados contra el lodo
   Las sobrevivientes gatearon rapidamente a su bota
   por sus pantalones hacia sus partes intimas

   Antes que la orimera hormiga arribase a su ombligo
   cayo gritando por el dolor de las picazones
   Su cabeza se partio en dos sobre una piedra, cerebro y
                    sangre volcandose hacia afuera,
   mientras dos pajaros bajaban volando, para picotear un ojo
                    cada uno.

GERALD ENGLAND

Traduccion: Matias Serra Bradford.


Publication

1990 La Carta de Oliver (Argentina)

And After Little Suzie

AND AFTER LITTLE SUZIE

And after little Suzie
whose breasts were very small
whose cunt was very dark
whose eyes smiled wider than her mouth
came redheaded Tina
who never stopped talking
whose boobs vibrated as she ran
who soon got there but proved frigid actually
was followed by shygirl Judith
who hated being called a Judy
who made coffee played monopoly and had a dad who argued politics
who took a lot of patient work
yet gave herself fully and finally
blamed herself for my leaving her
Big Irma with the padded bra
i left alone for reasons of health
took to Barbara
whose big hunk of a frame
nearly crushed me but i made it
though i filled a crack in the bed with woodfiller later

for two months i rested
another Barbara came and went
then little Suzie reappeared
said she was engaged
i asked to whom
to your child's father she winked
he can afford it i let him
and after little Suzie

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 26th June 1971

Publication

1971 Strange Faeces (UK)

Caedmon Never Had It As Good

CAEDMON NEVER HAD IT AS GOOD

Caedmon never had it as good
Talk about the lonely goatherd,
he was a cowherd man
Looked after his beasts
up on the moors
all night
while the monks
at Stroenschall
got their four hours
of meagre sleep
on a hard, stone bench
in a drear, dank, draughty cell
No sleep for him
watching the herd
What he didn't know
about Love
Did he know
about Love ?
The Love of the Lord ?
He loved them cows
God was in those cows
as he was in the abbey
as he was in the sea
that pounded nightly
at the cliffs
Caedmon had no Latin
in him
He was a cowherd
not a cleric
But he could sing
He could praise the Lord
He did it too
In his own way
He did his thing
No Latin canticle for him
No Te Deum In Gloriam
but Caedmon's Song of Praise,
Caedmon's Metrical Paraphrase of Parts of the Holy Scripture
They've given it a name now
but he just sang it
in his dark Northumbrian tongue
Yorkshire's first poet,
the birth of dialect literature

Caedmon never had it as good
He only loved his cows
He only loved life
He only loved St.Hilda
He only loved God
He only loved the word of God
He spoke his truth
as he only knew how
He'd never had it at all
Who wanted it ?
Who needed it ?
Caedmon never had it as good

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 16th June 1971

Publications

1973 York Poetry (UK)
1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1991 Ore (UK)

Note: The version published in Ore was modified at the request of Eric Ratcliffe, omitting the final stanza and reducing the title to CAEDMON.

794 AD

794 A.D.

Adian Offasen starn betyne
Bykay fit si foreen hand
Praen hopped it a la Kent
Terram rapinis et homiciis hent -
derk la mooin - fit ney funderband
sud iver Adian's bear ket styne

Famine ravished, raged et raped
cant lay reenish pheaton cum
et in Lindisfarne dun dey dangeru
Hipwreck in Jarrow set mooir peru
Linnet saved a buking bum
fro erl ley devestatled scaped

Bud roon at roon et forsooth
Praen fuck is hip fer Adian's bear
la blud fit copped it tame
et York neer slain la blame
E harn it roon, fair bad dey hear,
so Bykay clatted in - u huncouth!

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 10th June 1971

Publications

1972 Platform (UK)
1990 Eotu (USA)

Irma

IRMA

Big Irma
with the padded bra
the load voice
and £4.10 stamped on her left shoe,
opens the door at ten past twelve
(a.m., p.m. - who cares ?)
wearing flimsy nightie over temperate flesh
A Lancashire lass with turned up nose
turned it up in canny Shields
Talk of the Jungle
Cheapest crumpet south of the Tweed
Guzzles down a pint of Newcastle Brown
in a minute flat
Never flat-broken
unless you ask
Don't up to the flat
it's cleaner than herself

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 7th June 1971

Publication

1973 Breath of Fresh Air (UK)

Cosy Cullercoats

COSY CULLERCOATS

I came to cosy Cullercoats
for a crab and a kiss from June
The cold wind blew
the sea battered up the beach
the soft sand sank into, filling up
our shoes
Colourful shells were gathered
for Aunt Fanny back home
to make plant-pot holders
The breeze blew sea-shower raindrops
into our faces
Down the road
Lord Collingwood
guarded the Middens
and Danish trawlers
set sail for the Faeroes -
cargoes of fish, cigars, fish, pullovers, fish -
I ate the crab
and left June with a kiss
in Cullercoats

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 6th June 1971

Publications

1972 Contac (UK)
1972 THE WINE THE WOMEN AND THE SONG (Pyle, Kenfig Press)
1994 Boggers All (UK)
2005 Sons of Camus Writers International Journal (UK)

(34)

I went to school
with the boys — they always stuck
up for me — she said

© Gerald England

Composed: North Shields, 1st June 1971

Publications

1972 Wormwood Review (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)