Another few by Roger McGough

Fame

The best thing

about being famous

is when you walk

down the street

and people turn round

to look at you

and bump into things.

Vanity Press

Fell in love with my editor

wrote poems, uearned for her lips

She married a literary critic

now sends me rejection slips.

You Asked For a Poem

You asked for a poem

off the top of my head

I plucked out a hair

“That’s not fair”, you said.

A Brush with Authority

I had a brush with authority

Not only did it tell me

What to paint and when

But also which colours to use.

In Good Hands

Whenever night falls

The earth is always

There to catch it.

Ring

Your finger

sadly

has a familiar ring

about it.

Love Cycle

Up against the wall

locked in passionate embrace

our two bicycles.

Whoops!

You are strangely excited

as we enter the crowded bar

and find a small table in the corner.

You insist on fetching the drinks

and before disappearing

squeeze a note into my hand.

It reads: “Why go home tonight?

I have a room. I have a bed.

I have a spare toothbrush.”

I recognize my own handwriting.

Away from You

Away from you

I feel a great emptiness

a gnawing loneliness

With you

I get that reassuring feeling

of wanting to escape.