Michael Henry
Hocktide Luncheon
Here, where Merrie England wags its docked tail,
I edge forward like a cub reporter.
‘For my grandson,’ says the cameraman,
pointing at the men in tails and top hats
masted with pheasant feathers. ‘Tutti–men.’
Girls in mob caps, blue capes with a peep
of white petticoat are handing out
sweets, balloons, like trick or treating in reverse.
Tour–guides that have lost their tour–group
hold up poles with blue and yellow ribbons
topped with a nosegay of spring flowers.
I buy a coffee in The Tutti–Pole.
Then end up, as often happens, in the church
where I leaf through the parish pamphlet.
I read a poem thinking I'm doing some local scribe
a favour. It's ‘April Birthday' by Ted Hughes.
At the Watercress and Macaroni supper
young men pour praise on the potency
of the current year’s Plantaganet punch.
At one o'clock the Hocktide luncheon:
‘Trout caught in the Kennet,
watercress grown by the canal
and beef that's grazed on the Common.’
I order ploughman’s at the John of Gaunt.
I edge forward like a cub reporter.
‘For my grandson,’ says the cameraman,
pointing at the men in tails and top hats
masted with pheasant feathers. ‘Tutti–men.’
Girls in mob caps, blue capes with a peep
of white petticoat are handing out
sweets, balloons, like trick or treating in reverse.
Tour–guides that have lost their tour–group
hold up poles with blue and yellow ribbons
topped with a nosegay of spring flowers.
I buy a coffee in The Tutti–Pole.
Then end up, as often happens, in the church
where I leaf through the parish pamphlet.
I read a poem thinking I'm doing some local scribe
a favour. It's ‘April Birthday' by Ted Hughes.
At the Watercress and Macaroni supper
young men pour praise on the potency
of the current year’s Plantaganet punch.
At one o'clock the Hocktide luncheon:
‘Trout caught in the Kennet,
watercress grown by the canal
and beef that's grazed on the Common.’
I order ploughman’s at the John of Gaunt.
Page(s) 29
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