I Haven't Got a Chance

Note: I wrote this poem back in 1973 when I was 17. Looking back, was I really that angry and resentful then? Apparently so.......

I didn't ask to be called Douglas, I never had a say.

It was all down to the old man, he always got his way.

He's called Douglas so he must know how I feel,

I'm not sure about him but I feel bloody ill.

I didn't ask to be born, but since I had no choice,

'suppose I'd rather be alive, just; one of the boys.

I could have been born in Surrey, I could have been born in France,

But I'm sick to death of the east end, I haven't got a chance!

Capability Red          1973

Smike

Sadly he lies in an orchard all alone
in a short life he knew no joy.
He remembers a hook in the attic.
Can we help but remember our fears?
Years at Dotheboys, horror, shame.
Wake up and........nobody there.
He wasn't allowed to live
don't tell me he's dead,
a victim of prejudice
Abandoned. Forgotten
not meant for this world.
Smike my heart cries out for you
though no tears can help you now.
Perhaps you can hear this
wherever you are.
Alone he lies in an orchard.
But he looks up and smiles.
One light in his life
in his poor narrow existence,
one light.
He confided 'I've loved her'
just before he floated away.
Kate, he loved you
although he was much too frightened to say.
Poor Smike
he seeks no revenge.
Let him rest.



Capability Red               1975

Somebody has to come Second

Somebody has to come second,
but if it's my daughter, I'll scream.
She'll marry a lawyer
the Jones' I'll redeem.

Somebody has to come second,
although, they might as well be third.
A paragraph in the small print
and nobody reads a word.

Somebody must be a loser
I know, he'll be a loser himself.
Somebody has to come second,
but let it be somebody else!



Capability Red        aprox' 1977

Lord Goldfish Bowl

My name is Lord Goldfish Bowl,
I'm sixty five, getting old.
But, tickety boo chaps, you know,
I take my seat at the Lord Mayor's show.

Crosswords, absurds, I still laugh,
I've got hot water in my bath,
I don't worry if you're on strike,
I'm a Lord and I do as I like!

Velvet curtains, chandeliers,
Barons, Earls, wigs and peers,
parquet flooring in my hall
two way mirrors on the wall.

My name is Lord Goldfish Bowl,
I bought my wife a pure mink stole,
drive a Bentley twice a week
seems like beauty's pocket deep.

My name is Lord Goldfish Bowl,
I've got titles in a row
I have money in the sky,
Hope it's there when I die.



Capability Red               1976

In a London Pub

Drink to my health in a London pub, a proper London boozer,
sit among the nearly was, could have been's and losers.
On the zephyr of a conversation discreetly overheard
like the line you wish you'd written, I float with every word.
The easily distracted, under achieving, cast of a cast off club
stay cloaked in anonymity, in the corner of a London pub.


Capability Red      2013

The Day Your Life Changed

You'll never ever be the same,
this is real, not a game,
it's happened, there's no-one to blame.
Today your life has changed.

I felt a sense of deja vu,
when I heard all about you,
you'll understand, you'll feel it too,
on the day your life changed.

I remember. But where was you?
Walking? Talking? Along that avenue,
I didn't believe it, it wasn't true.
But that day my life changed.



Capability Red         July 2013

On A Bench By The Brook

Sylvia sits on a bench by the brook,
nobody asks her the time as the day passes slowly.
Children run, shout, fall, or was that yesterday?
Tomorrow is a far away country watching the brook flow.

All of a somewhere a siren sounds.
Mothers alarmed, gather loved ones.
It's quiet again, the 'all clear' must have sounded,
Sylvia trembles, she forgot her gas mask.

That long ago? Was it one of ours?
Where have they gone? It's starting to rain.
Sylvia listens to the gentle pitter patter,
sitting all alone at dusk on a bench by the brook.


Capability Red       July 2013

Every Day

Every day the morning comes, Andy hums, Mark thumbs a lift to work, to see them shirk.
The office clerks, rearrange, I wanna change from acting strange.
Silver cloud, shout aloud "everywhere I go I wanna know just how to show them what I do, I beg of you".
Don't lose your pride, run and hide, or sit beside a layabout, hear him shout, there is no doubt.

Every day this empty room is full of gloom, hanging doom and mystic powers, ivory towers.
Playing for East Fife, get a life or someone's wife. Or Louise, just a tease mmmm yes please.
Every day my dustbin pad is in arrears, I'm in tears, nobody fears an autograph from a girafe.
Do they make you laugh? The price you pay every day, every day the morning comes, Andy hums.



Capability Red      1972

Coming Up For Air?

It's not the sort of job for an Englishman,
it's not the sort of job for any man.
But I do a bit of overtime when I can.
It helps to pay the mortgage.

It's not a job where you drive a Rolls Royce.
It's not the sort of job you do out of choice,
and if I kick up a stink, I'm a lonely voice.
Still, it helps to pay the mortgage.

It's the sort of job you leave when you can.
But you can't jump out of the frying pan.
In the summer I could get a tan.
But that wouldn't pay the mortgage.

It's not the sort of job to recommend.
It's not the sort of job you'd offer a friend.
On Saturday night, I've no money to spend.
Not after I've paid the mortgage!

They calculate a mortgage on what you earn.
They couldn't care less what you learn.
But they'll be sorry when I return
to pay next month's mortgage.


Capability Red      aprox'  1983

Love Is ?

Love is real, love is ill,
Love is when your woman's on the pill.
Love is nice take my advice,
Love is when she doesn't ask twice.
Smiles and kisses, Mr and Mrs,
valentine cards and pleasant wishes.
Love is lame, love is tame
Love is when you both feel the same.
Love is cash, love is fashion,
Love is when you both share passion.
Love is together in stormy weather,
Love is when you both wear leather.
It makes a change if love is strange,
let's role reverse, let's rearrange.
Love is a choice, let's rejoice
on the back seat of a new Rolls Royce!
Love is first, love is last.
Love is treasure from a pleasant past.


Capability Red          aprox'  1982

Watching You Grow Old

In the heat of the night, feeling cold,
your face contorts, I'm watching you grow old.

Behind closed eyes, the years unfold,
for the rest of my life watching you grow old.

And day by day, night after night,
the shadow of your stare in the fading light.

Ordinary woman, ordinary man,
getting it on as best as they can.

We have a purpose, or so we're told
through ageing eyes, I'm watching you grow old.


Capability Red          aprox    1982

Going to work on the early train

Suck'n blow, cereal stain
going to work, eat my brain,
galloping rhythm, repetitive strain,
bass line tuned to the early train.
Got a job, mustn't complain
find a seat on the early train,
repetitive strain, repetitive strain,
no no no, I'm not insane.

Barbara Gordon, Lois Lane,
recurring dream can't explain,
sudden derailment, low flying plane,
nightmare on the early train.
Through the window in the rain,
washed away down the drain,
hear no evil feel no pain,
in the dark on the early train.

Energy drink, bean and cane,
ear phones in with disdain.
Little to lose nothing to gain
always the same, repetitive strain.
Wheels go 'round again 'n again,
every morning it's the same,
every day struggle in vain,
cold steel track, repetitive strain.

Going to work once again
repetitive strain, repetitive strain,
what's my number? what's my name?
No escape from the early train.
Heard the economy's on the wane,
weakest link breaks the chain
can't speak up, must refrain
repetitive strain, repetitive strain.


Capability Red       2013

Peter Believes

Peter believes that Bow Bells sound
it's ten to six, so he must rise,
born in the fifties, a problem child,
he wipes yesterdays dreams out of his mince pies.

And Peter believes there's a peaceful solution
to the abundance of violence thriving today,
he feels so loyal, so totally confused,
at times he just doesn't know what to say.

At the yard he is cordially greeted,
'morning friends' and so to the bench,
his favorite circular saw is humming
how could he say that life is a wrench?

Peter believes that a woman exists
and he will sweep her off her feet,
every day Old Ford is the same,
do we accept the blame, or do we try to cheat?

Peter believes for every drop of rain that falls:
 Someone gets wet!
And Peter believes one day the government will fall.
But it hasn't happened yet.

Oh Peter believes. Yes, Peter believes.



Capability Red     aprox'   1980

Figure of Ridicule

Explosive in those up to the minute Janus Stark styles,
if I was better mannered, I'd acknowledge your fiendish smile.
We know your Father is a member of the mackintosh society,
don't thank him for your reputation, your notoriety.
You are a figure of ridicule.

Your derogatory comments always fail to impress,
and I wouldn't describe you as a picture of happiness.
That shell fish sandwich may just taste confusing,
in my eyes you remain perpetually amusing.
You are a figure of ridicule.



Capability Red   aprox'  1978

Tales From The Broken Harp

I know all the tales they tell in the Broken Harp,
the subversive literature they sometimes sell in the Broken Harp.
Reports of stone age men,
seen in Canning Town
all the Rathbone Market boys
puttin' the word around:

"W e know all the tales they tell in the Broken Harp
We are noted boys as well in the Broken Harp".

They said Eric was planted,
wasn't that a crime?
he used to be a docker
now he's doing time.
I know all the tales they tell in the Broken Harp.
In my dreams it's always dark in the Broken Harp.



Capability Red    1979

Variations on a Theme of Enforced Idleness

The sacred emblem is all she's got left,
listening out; who's gonna be next.
Creeping hours bring burning despair.
Is there anyone there?

Radio phone-ins heighten the tension,
a phone bill that hurts too much to mention.
At times she just doesn't care.
Is there anyone there?

Friendly faces, friendly advice,
people don't know, but, they know how to be nice.
This world just isn't fair.
Is there anyone there?

Mid afternoon, she's got to get out,
 saunter downtown, confirming her doubts.
It's devastation everywhere.
Is there anyone there?



Capability Red            1982