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What Now & Why With John Peel Gone?

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 what now with John Peel gone?
a minute’s silence
at Anfield and beyond
might seem too short
for one who played a different game
with Red in his heart
often while his team were off playing elsewhere
while he’d be stuck at work in some studio
doing his thing
but hankering for scores
what now and why?

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 for who here remembers
that young Scouser lilt
the sixties to now
filling the airwaves
with vocal and musical euphoria
on nights of Liverpool triumphs
and sorrowed tones on rare defeats
what now and why?

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 nursing me with Cohen, Dylan and Gibran
through growing years
of silly far-out dreams
tuning in and dropping by
on long nights when incense burned
in studio and bed-sits
of yesteryear –

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 you and I
so much younger then –
but me busy trying to find myself
hitching and washing dishes
in Istanbul and Morocco..
and you on weekends
driving long hours to strange supposed dj gigs
but slinging on T-Rex un-warned and unannounced –
what now and why?

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 what now in digital must-have days
and ‘me-me’ nights
so far from sixties moments
when butteflies bells and flares
welcomed in that Perfumed Garden
and midnight dreams
from Pirate Radio to Medicine Head
from La Flute Indienne to Beefheart
from T-Rex and Donovan
The Fall to Home Truths

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 on autumn days in Holland Park
discussing the trees of London
or evenings shrouded in purple haze
that found Ginsburg, John,Yoko,Bolan and you
hanging out at Indica Bookshop
writing and reading poetry out loud
to cross-legged dreamers in their teens
getting fluffy and radical – angry and loved-up
before the words were common..
no guru you
but how you influenced loads..
what now and why?

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 and you frequenting the Arts Lab
forever caught at badly run early festivals
checking out new bands
no – not for you
the usual celeb nightlife haunts of the night
no John that wasn’t you..
so what now and why?

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 and your column in International Times
embracing the hopes of an age
so strong – so idealisitic – so like the times
but mocked for its folly
and like you..gone
so what now and why?

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 who else to shine a torch for the new
the different ?
always looking listening
your taste eclectic electric
from mellow to hectic

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 and meeting you down muddy lanes
on one too many Glastonburys
searching still
for some new band to tout and wave
for no financial gain –

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 and all those long-gone Sundays In Concert
live – on our rubbish old valve radio
in hippy cottages
on bygone drop-out rainy valley daze

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 the IT guy
that was you John..
buried in endless piles of demos
from streams of hopeless hopefuls..
who will like me
gasp at this news..
a fair few music lovers
I’ll be bound
not to mention
your dear wife
your children
hundreds of eternally grateful bands
endless enrapt listeners
old hippies
Liverpool and any footie fans
the whole of Radio Four
Three Two One and Five
and that’s just for starters
shine on John –
gone
but in our hearts forever..

13 Leave a comment on verse 13 0 but what now and why?

Notes

RIP John Peel.
I’m so sad today.

Source: https://footballpoets.org/poems/what-now-why-with-john-peel-gone/