Candid View

Captured in black and white by brother Michael,
Liverpool lad picking guitar in his back garden,
on the precipice of fame, offbeat, caught through
Mum’s swaying net, naive below a line of washing;
Scouse washday, Dolly Blue, girls make dollies
out of clothes pegs, la da da, la da da, la dee dee.

Still living with Dad; the curtains hid the pain
of Ma dead with breast cancer six years before.
Wash hanging in the cold snap of Mersey yards,
the snot on a neighbor's blanket; humming a tune,
lad who vaulted over creosoted fences on Booker
to deliver the evening Echo to my Uncle Bill,
who yelled out at "our kid" from the corpy estate.
Strum a tune, pick a tune, strike a blues rhythm,
mmm, la da da da, la da da da, la da da dee dee.



Christopher T. George

In the Backyard: