Belladonna

BELLADONNA

Belladonna is unlucky.
Belladonna is seven years bad luck.
Don't walk under a mandrake by moonlight.
If he would be fed by tieing thereto
a mandrake screams in his sins rememb'red.
Don't walk under a sleeping bat.
My dame has lost her tongue in front of a sleeping bat.
Jupiter days are good for selling shellfish;
Don't get out a banana.
What you haven't got a black cat has removed.
Don't walk under a crooked cat.
Today is unlucky.
Do not disturb a white cat.
Break a ladder.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 29th July 1992

Publications

1994 TOPS The Toadbird (UK)
1995 The Vincent Brothers Review (USA)
2004 The Same (USA)

Greta Garbo on the Blackpool Bus

GRETA GARBO ON THE BLACKPOOL BUS

Elsie Williamson

met Greta Garbo on a Blackpool bus

going to visit a friend

in Poulton-le-Fylde.

"Ee luv, you do look like her;

I've seen all her films, you know;

I think I must be one of her biggest fans!"

"Have I many fans in Blackpool ?",

biting her lips at the utterance of "I".

"O hundreds, luv, and I reckon on

there must be at least a million

in the whole of Lancashire -

will you come to tea with me tomorrow?"

She scribbled her address

on the back of a brown envelope

that had had her gas-bill in;

"Must dash - this is my stop -

see you tomorrow".

George told her she was daft

but enjoyed the ham and ate the cake.

Two weeks later

a letter arrived

with two complimentary tickets

for the film premiere in London.

Elsie wondered

where she could find

the money for the train-fare.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed:  Gee Cross, 6th June 1990

Publications

1991 The Vincent Brothers Review (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1994 Current Accounts (UK)
1997 Pickings (Internet)

Holland

HOLLAND

Here, where man has fought the sea and won,
an airport stands at the bottom of a lake,
a factory stands behind a lighthouse
with the wreck of a ship in a farmer's field
twenty kilometres from the present sea.
Called the Ijslemeer it was the Zuider Zee;
what was the sea is merely now a mere.
Dykes defend this vast expanse of polderland,
drained at vast expense, kept daily drained
against the sea that would reclaim its own.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: North Sea Ferries, 6th July 1980

Publications

1986 Aireings (UK)
1991 The Vincent Brothers Review (USA)
1999 Red Booth Review (Internet)

Arrival in Nottingham

(1969 - photograph courtesy of Gail's Man at Nottingham Daily Photo.)

ARRIVAL IN NOTTINGHAM

The train
trundles
over the Beeston Canal
with swans cruising up past barges parked townward
into that long
track-covered curve
of ground
Stops
in the Goods Yard North
for passengers
to take stock
of the view
of the castle
standing at
the other end
of the curve's radius,
impressive,
imposing
on its solid rock foundation
Shunts forward
into the Goods Yard West
Further aspects
of the castle
Lurches gradually
into the Goods Yard East
leaving the castle
behind an engine shed
Reaches
eventually
the station.

© GERALD ENGLAND


(2007 - photograph courtesy of Gail's Man at Nottingham Daily Photo.)

Composed: Nottingham, 10th March 1971

Publications

1991 The Vincent Brothers Review (USA)
1993 POET'S ENGLAND: NOTTINGHAMSHIRE (St.Albans, Brentham Press)
1996 MARIGOLDS GROW WILD ON PLATFORMS (London, Cassell)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
2007 Ackworth born, gone West (Internet)

Escape

ESCAPE

It is necessary
every once in a while
to escape
from the oppressive closeness
of the city;
to take a bus
away from the city
to a small village
up on the moors' edge
from where
I can walk up
into the hills
where there is
no roar of traffic
but the rippling of a stream
Though the city
is but a mere
bus ride away
it could be a million miles
for here is not the solitude
of the city,
which is loneliness,
but the solitude
of the country,
which is freedom

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Eaglesham, 29th August 1967

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1985 SPEAK TO THE HILLS (Aberdeen University Press)
1991 The Vincent Brothers Review (USA)