Carol Ann Duffy...

Well, what do all you feminists think of Carol being named Poet Laureate yesterday..?
Apparently the first woman to be named in 341 years....

A worthy choice...
A fine poet, from Glasgow...figures...

Mrs Darwin sees her spouse off in three succinct lines


'Went to the Zoo I said to Him Something about that Chimpanzee over there reminds me of you.'(C Duffy)



JJ

JJ:

POEM FOR CAROL

Didn't I do well
she thought

entering Central Station
from the little cafe

street.
London train

leaves in 15
minutes...

Just in time
to phone home

and say:

free sherry
for a whole ten years

coming my way...


Jarvo 2009

I hadn't heard of Carol Ann Duffy until yesterday, Jarvo.

I've since seen Carol being interviewed on television and read some of her poetry online.
I'm really glad she's the new Poet Laureate.

Poems from 'Rapture'

Lovely Jo anne, thank you for that...

I have been a keen follower of The Mersey Poets ; Roger Mcgough,Brian Patten and perhaps my favourite Adrian Henri who sadly died a few years ago. Duffy was in a relationship with Henri and was the subject of some of his poems.

I would like to have seen Roger McGough as the new Poet Laureate and I believe Duffy got the "job" because she ticked all the New Lab boxes i.e. female, bisexual, Scottish etc.

Remember it is the Government who recommend the selection.

Glad you like Adrian Henri Bennie, he was a very underrated poet and a very talented painter.

I seem to remember someone saying on here "Gays are a drag".
After reading about Carol Ann Duffy today and finding out she is a self confessed lesbian, does this make her a drag? or is it not the case because she can rhyme 'moon, June, and spoon'.

Was that me Joseph-ine...?
Oh, sorry to upset you duckie...
You "learning" poetry now...?
Gordon Bennett.....

Adrian Henri also fronted blue/rock/jazz combo The Liverpool Scene.Here he Sings the excellent BATPOEM

Excellent Bennie, excellent

In 1972/3 I went to Liverpool with my cousin to look for Liverpool Scene records at the newly opened Virgin record shop and was told they had non but the bloke behind the counter mischievously told us that Henri lived 5 minutes away at 21 (I think) Mount Street.
Being innocents we followed his directions and knocked on the door and to our amazement Adrian Henri answered and invited us in.
We sat in the front parlour chatting with him for about an hour; with people coming in and out of the room all the time.
I wish I could remember the details but time has taken its toll on the old grey matter.

He's Liverpool's answer to JCC! I like that.

I think Cooper-Clarke may be Salford's answer to Adrian Henri,Tonker.

I think you're probably right there, Bennie!

make a date with the brassy brides of britain
the altogether ruder readers' wives
who put down their needles and their knitting
at the doorway to our dismal daily lives
the fablon top scenarios of passion
nipples peep through holes in leatherette
they seem to be saying in their fashion
'I'm freezing charlie - haven't ya finished yet?'

cold flesh the colour of potatoes
in an instamatic living room of sin
all the required apparatus
too bad they couldn't fit her head in

in latex pyjamas with bananas going ape
their identities are cunningly disguised
by a six-inch strip of insulation tape
strategically stuck across their eyes

wives from inverness to inner london
prettiness and pimples co-exist
pictorially wife-swapping with someone
who's happily married to his wrist.

'The Valley of the long Lost Women' by John Cooper Clark

The windows are frigidaire icebergs
frozen in prickly heat
the vanishing cream victims
are drip-fed amnesia neat
where the test card melodies warm you
in powder blue pseudo bel air
germs and flies alarm you
they whisper the word expelair

The eyes of the night sub-zero
peep through the windows of sleep
everyone's husband is a hero
and ghost insurance men creep
through the valley of the long-lost women
dreaming under the driers
eating and sleeping and slimming
according to what is required

They flick through three-colour brochures
depicting palms on aqua-marine
in the half-built hotels out of focus
they're mending the vending machines
where sixty italian love songs
are sung to a million guitars
they lick their frozen drinks on sticks
among the men with important cigars

Numb to the digital numbers
one two three
four five six
lost in a far away rhumba
where the oil-drums are beaten with sticks
she left her heart in frisco
she left her room in a mess
she left her hat in the disco
she never left her address.
the diving board springs to assistance
throws you off from the shore
telephones ring in the distance
there are lifts getting stuck between floors

A truck turns into a cul-de-sac
springtime turns to ice
rucksacks turn into hunchbacks
musclemen turn into mice
in a painless panorama
with its perpendicular might
the women are going bananas
and disappearing from sight.

KFI

I liked Batpoem, Bennie.

Roger McGough - a 'trickster you can trust'.

The Cats' Protection League
and
Mafia Cats.

Roger McGough deserves to be Poet Laureate for those two poems alone Jo anne.
What a shame the people don't elect the PL.

LOVE IS

Adrian's presentation of poetry, with his backing band, was magic, Bennie.

I recently purchased Adrian's "Autobiography" collection on the internet...Very profound...

His band The Liverpool Scene were very accomplished musicians jo anne.
Andy Roberts who played guitar is a talented singer/songwriter in his own right , I saw him recently playing with Dennis Locorriere (from Dr. Hook).He has played with many band including Pink Floyd.

Andy Roberts

Jarvo, more details please.