roger doger

This Friday, I'm giving one of three coming lectures/reading groups at the local library on British poet Roger McGough He's a whole lot of pun--much of his work has wordplay and/or humor. This first lecture will cover his poems on the subjects of violence, human nature, and impending Noah's Ark sorts of crisis + Philip Larkin, who was librarian at the University of Hull while McGough was studying there. Next time, his long poem Summer with Monika touching tender and EECummings. Last lecture will be the light verse & Ogden Nash. Kenneth Koch seems a major thread in this text too. McGough, is some kind of punderful:



Here's one on a relevant subject for this blogger's world:

PAY-BACK TIME

O Lord, let me be a burden on my children
For long they've been a burden upon me.
May they fetch and carry, clean and scrub
And do so cheerfully.

Let them take it in turns at putting me up
Nice sunny rooms at the top of the stairs
With a walk-in bath and lift installed
At great expense.....Theirs.

Insurance against the body-blows of time
Isn't that what having children's all about?
To bring them up knowing that they owe you
And can't contract out?

What is money for but to spend on their schooling?
Designer clothes, mindless hobbies, usual stuff.
Then as soon as they're earning, off they go
Well, enough's enough.

It's been a blessing watching them develop
The parental pride we felt as each one grew.
But Lord, let me be a burden on my children
And on my children's children too.

Here's a photo of Herself. She makes a prettier older gentleman, dontcha' think?