Collected Poems Page 30
A man mountain 136
A mayfly blinks 379
A more talented footballer 150
A nice day for breakfast outside. Well-practised, 355
a pinta makes a man 34
A poet of little repute 284
A shot rang out. The bullet was not intended for me. 299
A task completed everyday 184
After knocking ’em dead at the College of Ed. 119
After supper, we move out on to the veranda. 240
after the battle of the Incriminating Loveletter 88
after the merrymaking, 33
After the pantomime, carrying you back to the car 395
Alan’s had his thingies done. You know, down there. 366
Albert Robinson 131
Alf 141
All night 118
‘Along Leadladen Street 226
America’s the land of milk and honey 38
An old man walks into his local newsagents 286
and Cardiffs a tart with a heart of gold. 122
and you still havent ironed 87
Angelina 138
Approaching midnight and the mezze unfinished 248
As every bandage dreams 266
As soon as my voice is heard above the babble 286
As the cold winter evenings drew near 7
As you can imagine, a man in my position 238
at 7.55 this morning 90
At a publishing party in Bedford Square 305
at first 87
At first, picture postcards 96
At five o’clock our time a killer was fried 339
at the goingdown of the sun 51
At university, how that artful question embarrassed me. 16
August in Devon and all is rain. A soft rain 281
Aunt Agatha 143
Aunt Ermintrude 134
Aunty Ann 151
Aunty Marge, 7
Auschwitz with H and C 114
Barry Bungee 146
Be he moth 215
Bees cannot fly, scientists have proved it. 334
Believe me when I tell you that 267
Beside the willowed river bank 292
Beware January, 254
Big Arth from Penarth 149
Billy our Kid 135
Blessed are the children and happy the spouses 386
Blood is an acquired taste 163
blue sierra 362
Chaos ruled OK in the classroom 195
Cliff faces do not like the word ‘sheer’ 226
Come in and welcome. You’re the first. 289
Conservative Government. 182
Cousin Caroline 130
Cousin Chas 132
Cousin Christ (né Derek) 147
Cousin Daisy’s 154
Cousin Fiona 148
Cousin Fosbury 143
Cousin Horatio 140
Cousin Nell 155
Cousin Reggie 137
Cyanide in the forest 222
Dark clouds. The fresh smell of new rain. The soft hiss 222
‘Dear Lonely Hearts, 137
Dear Satoshi, 236
Discretion is the better part of Valerie 36
Do people who wave at trains 170
Don’t give your rocking-horse 177
Don’t worry 40
Don’t worry, I’ll do it for you 358
Down first for breakfast 122
Downstairs, Neptune taming the sea-horses, let us descend. 310
Drink wine 349
During dinner the table caught fire. 275
Each year, in early December 20
Elmer Hoover 153
Entranced, he listens to salty tales 311
Everyday 355
everyevening after tea 4
Fe fi fo fum 373
Feeling a trifle smug after breaking off an untidy, 298
For one magical moment you imagine 227
For years there have been no fish in the lake 221
Friday came the news. 259
From the first 314
from the ground 171
Georgie Jennings was spit almighty. 25
Getting on at Notting Hill 113
Girls are simply the prettiest things 44
God bless all policemen 109
Going in to bat 130
Got up 350
Grandma 127
Granny plays whist 137
Gravity is one of the oldest tricks in the book. 389
Half-term holiday, family away 342
Halfway up the mountain it stops. Slips back. 387
harvesttime 206
Have you heard the latest scandal 256
He can sing and dance 263
He is neither big nor strong 396
He wakes when the sun rises 246
He was a filmmaker with a capital F. 301
He was a poet he was. 300
He was lying there, so I… er 243
Head down and it’s into the hangover. 345
Here I am 336
Here is a poem for the two of us to play. 308
‘HE’S BEHIND YER!’ 197
He’s there everyday on the corner, 355
His love life is one of fits and starts 269
His poems are nets 282
His sister Alfreda 142
Humphrey Bogart died of it 204
I am 314
I am an atom of carbon 372
I am distinctly 337
I am the very air 371
I am waiting in the corridor 16
I asked my lady what she did 260
I assume that the fire started before 353
I closed my eyes, held my breath 362
‘ I concur 258
I could never begin a poem: ‘When I am dead’ 302
I do not smile because I am happy. 100
I don’t believe that one about the butterfly – 228
I don’t drive, I’m afraid. 302
I don’t like the poems they’re making me write 304
I explain quietly. You 95
I felt dirty having to write this poem 304
I forsake dusty springfield 45
I go home by train 295
i go to bed early 162
i go to sleep on all fours 90
I had never considered cats 279
i have a photograph of you 29
I have a problem with Bath. 272
I have always enjoyed the company of extroverts. 340
I have enough jackets and trousers 361
I have old-fashioned values 239
I have outlived 169
I have this fear: 341
I join the queue 341
I lack amongst other things a keen sense of smell. 343
I like liposuction, I’ve had my lipo sucked. 370
I like my isolation 343
I love the way he uses words 289
i once met a man 256
i own a solarium 361
i remember your hands 30
I repose at great speed 375
I started smoking young. The Big C 363
I still have the blue beret that JFK 296
I wanna be the leader 183
I want to write a new poem. 284
i wanted one life 90
I was forever hearing about the sacrifices 18
I was in a room with the tallest man in Britain 264
I was waiting in the corridor 16
I went to the mirror 101
iceflow sighted 172
If I were a boat I’d steer to you 265
If they held Olympic contests 138
I’m a romantic. 267
I’m an ordinary feller six days of the week 157
I’m in at the Health Club 338
I’m not a colour 377
I’m not real gold 378
I’m Shirley, she’s Mary. 126
I’m sorry, God, I cannot love 215
I’m what gets witches 376
in a corner of my bedroom 45
In a dawn raid 172
&nb
sp; in bed 161
in bed 167
In Bristol, to escape the drizzle 271
In case of FIRE break glass 352
In Flanders fields in Northern France 50
In my fallout shelter I have enough food 53
In no way am I trying to lay claim 383
In Parliament, the Minister 181
In the Antarctic, an ice-shelf 227
In the Art Gallery 309
In the Art Gallery it is nearly 309
in the no mans land 120
in the staffroom 201
IN THE TIME… 252
increasingly oftennow 40
Insanity left him when he needed it most 5
Intercede for us dear saint we beseech thee 351
Into the world of the red glass bus 179
Is my team playing 158
it can’t just end like this 89
It ended in Uttar Pradesh. 388
It gives me no pleasure to say this 293
It hangs from the ceiling, 367
It is a lovely morning, what with the sun, etc. 334
it is afterwards 30
It is the end of summer 251
It is unusual to find me here, in town. 234
It occurred first to the lemon-haired manatee 231
It seems unlikely now 169
It was in Kalgoorlie last year, late one afternoon 363
it wouldn’t be wise to go away together 97
It’s a joy to be old. 329
‘It’s all bad. 283
It’s all over. 93
‘It’s like bashing your head against a brick wall,’ 17
‘It’s snowing down south,’ one girl would say 26
It’s snowing out 110
Jogging around Barnes Common one April morning 210
John in the garden 314
Jugglers, as you can imagine, 385
Just passing. I spot you through the railings. 394
Kenya 288
Kung Fu Lee 131
last Wednesday 91
Last week 337
Last year 139
Learning to read during the war 1
Let me die a youngman’s death 60
Life is a hospital ward, and the beds we are put in 368
Light rain, like steam 273
‘Look quickly!’ said the stranger 199
Looks quite pretty lying there 32
lying in bed ofa weekdaymorning 85
Merve the Swerve 139
middle aged 95
Mind, how you go! 124
Monster cooling towers stand guard 117
Most weekends, starting in the spring 208
mother the wardrobe is full of infantrymen 57
Mother, there’s a strange man 56
My Aunty Jean 258
My busconductor tells me 177
My wife is such a light sleeper 240
Neat-haired and 312
Never hangglide 146
New brooms sweep clean 359
new dead flowers in 102
No, I’d rather stand, thank you. Sorry it’s so late 198
No, the candle is not crying, it cannot feel pain. 396
No. 12 a long room built under the eaves. Tri- 121
‘Not to put too fine a point on it,’ 351
Nothing ventured 330
‘O’ is for Oxygen 371
O Lord on thy new Liverpool address 159
ofa Sunday 168
Oh, what dreadful timing! It couldn’t have been worse! 59
Old Mac, seventyodd 144
On arriving at the theatre in good time there was no queue 312
On leaving the house you’d best say a prayer 354
On Monday next 182
On the edge of the jumping-off place I stood 389
On the eleventh morning 228
On the train from Bangor to Crewe 293
ONCE I LIVED IN CAPITALS 168
One evening while the family were at vespers 229
One morning as you step out of the bath 335
One of those poems you write in a pub 299
One son at each corner 394
only trouble with 315
Ossie Edwards couldn’t punch a hole in a wet echo. 23
Out of my depth at the cocktail party 342
Out of the wood 329
out of work 347
Owing to an increase 182
P.C. Plod had just come off point duty in Yates Wine Lodge 112
Patrick was always taller. 310
Patriots are a bit nuts in the head 51
Paul has probably forgotten about the incident by now 382
‘Perfick,’ said Old Larkin 291
Poems in which the title is, in fact, the opening line. 305
Poets make awful acrobats. 297
‘Quiet tonight’ 111
Saris billow in the wind like dhows off the shore 115
Sergeant Lerge put down his knife and fork 110
She is as beautiful as bustickets 178
She spends her life 259
Show me a salad 214
Sincere apologies, too late I know, for not getting engaged 26
snow crackles underfoot 199
snowman in a field 315
So you think it’s Stephen? 252
Some years ago the Rot set in. 99
Somenights 38
Sometimes 43
Sometimes I wish I was back in Nicosia 245
Sometimes they trap me 285
Spare a thought for your grandmother 22
spiders are holding their wintersports 115
Spring again. 213
Stinging in the rain I’m 225
Stoned and lonely in the union bar 124
Stop all the cars, cut off the ignition 224
‘Take a poem, Miss Smith. 276
Taking a break from recording at Olympic Studios 384
Taking tea in front of the White House. 174
talking 173
Teach me, o Lord, to be permissive 35
‘Tell us a story Grandad’ 327
That’s me on the left. 12
The Act of Love lies somewhere 33
the baby 86
The beautiful girl 265
The bus I often took as a boy to visit an aunt 250
The contractions are coming faster now. 392
The cord of my new dressing-gown 1
The Countess 296
The countryside must be preserved! 213
The cover of this book is yellow 307
The crocodile said to the cockatoo: 216
The evening lay before us 42
The finger 346
The Grand Old Duke of Wellington 262
The hamburger flipped across the face of the bun 356
The Hon. Nicholas Frayn 150
The husk may crack 362
The littlegirl 175
the littleman 180
The man was sick. He had a history 232
The Mandarin Hotel, Jakarta. 344
The oldman in the cripplechair 13
The politicians 52
The Queen came up to Liverpool 83
The scarecrow is a scarey crow 207
The shy girl at the party 28
The sun no longer loves me. 43
The sword-swallower 93
‘The trouble with snowmen,’ 391
The wind is howling, 94
The world is the perfect place to be born into. 335
there are 202
There be none of Beauty’s daughters 262
There was a knock on the door. 203
There was a porter 255
There were no ‘gays’ in those days, only ‘funny’ men. 19
There’s always someone who spoils things, isn’t there? 237
there’s not a one 27
There’s something sad 174
They bought the horse 175
They don’t fuck you up, your mum and dad 291
they say the sun shone now and again 63
‘T
hey’ve struck again,’ said Mrs Noah, disconsolate. 230
Things are so bad 358
This duck walked into a pub 209
This havy volum is a must for popl who lik potry. 303
This icy winter’s morning 330
This is a serious poem 297
This is the water 196
This morning 349
This morning 352
thismorning 44
Three weeks ago we decided to go our separate ways 98
To be a sumo wrestler 145
To ease us 283
To set the scene: A cave 288
To the mourners round his deathbed 313
today 360
Today is not a day for adultery. 269
Tonight will be an ordinary poetry reading 277
Tonight, young wife lying naked 316
towards the end of his tether 4
Train-spotting 128
Trees cannot name the seasons 212
Two a.m. 349
Unable to sleep 167
Uncle Anthony 130
Uncle Bram 134
Uncle Harry was a widower 257
Uncle Jack 139
Uncle Jason, an ace in the Royal Flying Corps 147
Uncle Jed 154
Uncle Len 152
Uncle Leo’s sole ambition 152
Uncle Malcolm 127
Uncle Mork 129
Uncle Trevor and Aunty Penny 140
Up against the wall 386
Used to drink Pernod 348
Vegetarians are cruel, unthinking people. 202
Volunteering at seventeen, Uncle Joe 2
W.P.C. Marjorie Cox 261
Wait until Akela is out of the room 19
Wandering lost and lonely in Bologna 270
Watching the video last night was good. 198
We fall to the earth like leaves 390
We haven’t spoken to him since that evening. 233
We keep our noses clean, my friend and i, 360
We live a simple life 96
We open on a frozen river 287
We sit in front of the wireless 88
We were drafted into the same unit 85
‘Well doctor, what do you think?’ 272
Well, it’s been a disappointing day 369
Well, she was asking for it. 242
We’re a five-car family 223
we’ve ignored eachother for a long time 205
What benign stroke of fate took Bob Dylan 381
What do I do for a living? Survive. 187
What happened to Harry Townsend that summer 11
What I admire most about days 333
What I love about everyday 357
What I love about night 160
What I wouldn’t give for a nine to five. 125
what prevents a poem 315
When granny was young she was famous for her teeth. 23
When i came to live with you 91
when i fly 164
When I was a boy (cue Brass Band) 21
When I was a lad 6
When I was kneehigh to a tabletop 3
When I was thirteen and crimping my first quiff 15
When people ask: ‘How are you?’ 367
When the bus stopped suddenly 58