Tony Harrison
Turns
I thought it made me look more ‘working class’ (as if a bit of chequered cloth could bridge that gap!) I did a turn in it before the glass. My mother said: It suits
Marked with D
When the chilled dough of his flesh went in an oven Not unlike those he fuelled all his life, I thought of his cataracts ablaze with Heaven And radiant with the sight of his
Book Ends
I Baked the day she suddenly dropped dead We chew it slowly that last apple pie. Shocked into sleeplessness you’re scared of bed. We never could talk much, and now don’t try. You’re like
Long Distance I
Your bed’s got two wrong sides. You life’s all grouse. I let your phone-call take its dismal course: Ah can’t stand it no more, this empty house! Carrots choke us wi’out your mam’s white
Long Distance II
Though my mother was already two years dead Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas, Put hot water bottles her side of the bed And still went to renew her transport pass. You
V
‘My father still reads the dictionary every day. He says your life depends on your power to master words.’ Arthur Scargill Sunday Times, 10 January 1982 Next millennium you’ll have to search quite hard
National Trust
Bottomless pits. There’s on in Castleton, And stout upholders of our law and order One day thought its depth worth wagering on And borrowed a convict hush-hush from his warder And winched him down;
Heredity
How you became a poet’s a mystery! Wherever did you get your talent from? I say: I had two uncles, Joe and Harry- One was a stammerer, the other dumb.