|

Prize Conker: Rose Lane School, Liverpool, 1963

Christopher T. George

Sunday, January 9th, 2005

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 I exhibit the monster conker secretly in poetry class,
and bets are laid for the lunch-time tournament,
Toby Cash, in a reverie, oblivious to our whispers,
paces the room, delivers an impassioned recitation
of Alfred Noyes’ “The Highwayman,” spittle white
at the corner of his mouth as he booms the verses.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 As Toby relates the bloody tale, all I can think of
is my prize conker, battle-ready, vinegar-
hardened, pierced and knotted to the end
of a lace from my football boot. I long
to see it, one by one, smash every conker
in the school, in the city, the entire world.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 But–thwack!–Toby’s cane smacks by desk;
he snatches the conker and hauls me to the front
of the class. He forces my arm out straight.
Another swish of the cane, and pain crumples my hand.
Mr. Cash drops my prize conker into his drawer,
and he locks my hopes away with a jangle of keys.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Christopher T. George

© Christopher T. George 2005

Notes

This is another poem adapted from my 1976 chapbook, “Toxteth,” a long autobiographical poem about my early days in Liverpool.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/prize-conker-rose-lane-school-liverpool-1963/