Alive and Gigging
for new enquiries from 19 Sept'22,
contact Philippa at SP Agency

Photo, Nick Wright Photography
 
‘The godfather of modern British poetry’ Metro
‘Brilliantly entertaining, a legend’ Chris Hawkins, BBC Radio 6 Music Presenter
‘a voice of calm in a world of madness’ Nick Dalton, Record Collector
‘The patron saint of poetry’ Carol Ann Duffy 
'Liverpool's own Poet Laureate' Daily Post
 
The Concessionary Haiku
Today I concede
that Sleepy Joe will never
enter the White House
*
I also concede 
that unlike the pandemic
I’m going nowhere
*
I concede that the
election is null and void.
GOD BLESS AMERIC!
(24.11.20)
 

PAY-BACK TIME

O Lord, let me be a burden on my children
For long they've been a burden upon me.
May they fetch and carry, clean and scrub
And do so cheerfully.

Let them take it in turns at putting me up
Nice sunny rooms at the top of the stairs
With a walk-in bath and lift installed
At great expense.....Theirs.

Insurance against the body-blows of time
Isn't that what having children's all about?
To bring them up knowing that they owe you
And can't contract out?

What is money for but to spend on their schooling?
Designer clothes, mindless hobbies, usual stuff.
Then as soon as they're earning, off they go
Well, enough's enough.

It's been a blessing watching them develop
The parental pride we felt as each one grew.
But Lord, let me be a burden on my children
And on my children's children too.

© Roger McGough Selected Poems Penguin

Permission to reproduce in any format must be secured from PFD. http://www.pfd.co.uk/books/permissions_requests.shtml 

Agency Adrian Mealing and Carole Mealing +44 (0)1684 540366 www.uktouring.org.uk