Flowers for Adrian
Adrian Henri (1932-2000)
The worn flagstones of Mount Street
opposite the Liverpool Institute
-- the head's office, I remember
his cabinet full of silver trophies
as he turned me down as a new pupil;
30 years later, I sat on your settee
at 21 Mount Street, a cabinet with a dead
magpie in it, garlanded with paste jewelry
as I drank coffee with connie onnie
and listened to your rich Liverpool accent:
Adrian, pop artist, pop poet,
one of the triumvirate of Sixties
"Liverpool Poets" Henri, McGough, Patten;
you stayed while Roger and Brian decamped
to "The Smoke"--but you were the first to die,
debilitated after your stroke,
your big body wasted but still--
as in your poetry and your artwork,
"I Want To Paint--" as you painted
the football field of bouquets
div>
after the Hillsborough tragedy of '89:
"Flowers for Liverpool."
Yes! every Spring, every day,
it's flowers for Adrian.
Christopher T. George
"Flowers for Liverpool" by Adrian Henri, courtesy of
Andy Roberts Music Adrian Henri Tribute Site
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