It’s happened again1 . . .
This month, there is no poem.
My muse has gone astray,
Complaining that no royalties
Ever seem to come her way.
But life is more than money!
And anyway, can’t she see
She gets her board and lodging
Inside my head for free?
I wonder where she’s gone to –
Has she found a better host?
James Muirden2, Richard Stilgoe3,
Pam Ayres4 – or Cyril’s ghost5?
I’m sure she will return,
Like every other time6,
And help to organise my thoughts
And turn them into rhyme.
She will come back, I’m sure of it.
She’ll realise, before long,
The error of her whingeing ways . . .
But what if I am wrong?
1. Actually, it hadn’t. I’d forgotten that she’d come up with the Aberfan poem.
2. Astronomer and author of The rhyming Bible and A rhyming history of Britain among others.
3. Songwriter, broadcaster and founder of the Orpheus Centre.
4. Entertainer and author of many poem collections.
5. Cyril Fletcher, comedian and actor, famous for his ‘Odd Odes’ (1913–2005)
6. See Writer’s block.