Adrian Mitchell Dies, age 76

[TheFifthElement]

A sad day for poetry : http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/articles.asp?id=1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/dec/21/adrian-mitchell-obituary

An excerpt of one of my favourite Mitchell poems:



A Puppy Called Puberty

It was like keeping a puppy in your underpants
A secret puppy you weren't allowed to show to anyone
Not even your best friend or worst enemy

You wanted to pat him stroke him cuddle him
All the time but you weren't supposed to touch him

He only slept for five minutes at a time
Then he'd suddenly perk up his head
In the middle of school medical inspection
And always on bus rides

So you had to climb down from the upper deck
All bent double to smuggle the puppy off the bus
Without the buxom conductress spotting
Your wicked and ticketless stowaway...

I, for one, will miss his wry sense of humour. May he rest in peace.

[TheFifthElement]

Another excerpt, this poem was voted the poem that people most wanted to be sent into space. Read into that what you will ;)



Human Beings

Look at your hands
your beautiful useful hands
you’re not an ape
you’re not a parrot
you’re not a slow loris
or a smart missile
you’re human
not british
not american
not israeli
not palestinian
you’re human
not catholic
not protestant
not muslim
not hindu
you’re human
we all start human
we end up human
human first
human last
we’re human
or we’re nothing
nothing but bombs
and poison gas
nothing but guns
and torturers
nothing but slaves
of Greed and War
if we’re not human
look at your body
with its amazing systems
of nerve-wires and blood canals
think about your mind
which can think about itself
and the whole universe
look at your face
which can freeze into horror
or melt into love
look at all that life
all that beauty

[Virgil]

I had never heard of him Fifth. Thank you for that and the link. That Puppy-Puberty poem is hilarious. :) RIP.

[quasimodo1]

http://www.rippingyarns.co.uk/adrian/