Peter Lewin
Stones
Everyone called him Stinky Stones.
It was funny then, but the kid
suffered, didn't stand a chance
at Stamford Boys, Manchester.
Makes me wonder how he coped
after the beatings he took.
Mr Downy with special canes:
Black Jack, The Bone, Tommy Steele.
At the drop of a hat he'd use them.
He delighted in punishing Stone.
"You stink Stone," he would say
as he laced into him,
sometimes swapping canes in mid stroke.
There were gas-taps on the desk
for connecting bunsen-burners,
rubber pipes ran from them;
with gas coming out of one,
Downy circled Stone's face:
"What do you need Stones?"
"Don't know sir."
"What you need Stones is gassing."
(Class laughter)
"Tell me Stones, what do you need?"
"Gassing sir."
(Class laughter)
"LOUDER STONES!"
"GASSING SIR!"
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The