Both of these poems come from how much of what I write is influenced by pop music. I love The Who and my cat Moony is named after Keith Moon, so no complaints about his character cos he’s as crazy as the drummer! I wrote this first poem twenty years ago. and was written from the ‘catchy’ title as a starting point.
Mods‘n’Rockers
The mods‘n’rockers
go hell for leather versus parka.
A rough‘n’tumble bank holiday beach
and the motorcycle rumble lambretta screech.
You can’t cope keep control
when the tears rattle reel‘n’roll.
Your moods at one another’s throats, black‘n’blue,
bring a lump to yours too.
And the mods‘n’rockers really kick in
when your head starts to bounce bump‘n’spin.
While Elvis the Pelvis sticks in the boot in Marlon Brando gear
Moon the Loon legs it, kitted out in his zoot, along Brighton Pier.
You feel tense under the strain
with your heart’s crash helmet dented again.
Round after round of knuckle sandwich fish‘n’chip fisticuffs
‘cos the mods‘n’rockers don’t ever let up.
I like inventing characters that you can invent whatever you like with, and this one is one of my favourites. The collage has my old school uniform blazer in it – At times, I like the idea of doing an Alfred Hitchcock film thing of popping up somewhere in my collages without being noticed!
JOHNNY PHANTASMAGORIA
His photographic memory
snaps it up, on the blink.
Nothing rings a bell
as he pulls the other one, and thinks;
He’s a pop star in his head
and never down on song.
Anything he wears gets worn-out
before it catches on.
Everyone he sees gets drawn in.
His first impressions last.
His revolving bookcase cluttered up
with pencil faces rubbed on brass.
So, while the other schoolchildren
shout out he’s a prat
he zigzags off towards the bike sheds
with a weather-cock on his cap.
A Pretty Kettle of Poetry 