The poetry and prose is once again part prequel, sequel and companion to the four previous volumes of poems and the autobiography "I Saw Her Standing There".
All of the places and landscapes featured really exist (if you pass through Vienna, search out that Street of The Beautiful Lantern and explore the mystique of those Venetian islands.
The characters in Blob, The Girl With Stars in Her Eyes, and The Loch Ness Monster Man are quite real along with the violin player (you will find him) and yes, Frankie really does go to Asda!
Throughout the collection we are taken back to a time before pumpkins became a halloween standard; to those days when you went to the greengrocer to bag the biggest turnip or swede in the wooden crate and tea lights were called night lights in waxed paper cased cylinders and home remedies in the main were calamine lotion, gentian violet and a hot kaolin clay poultice.
"Last Words" is a project that I have had on hold for the best part of a decade … it is both a painful and poignant subject to write into prose and adapt or interpret another’s thoughts into something lasting rather than final. The idea was to think about what if everybody in the world had kept a record of the people they knew or loved last words as a memorial. So hopefully among the sadness you will find scattered around other poems reflecting humour as a balance to cause a smile because ultimately poetry is all about passions and emotions.
Also included are a handful of rediscovered songs (originally thought lost or archived and hidden away) that kind of work as re-written poems. These were originally composed and some recorded back in the 1970s and are published all together for the first time along with a homage to a little bit of rock n’ roll.
And as for Clarence Clementine … well next time you are mooching around your local indoor or outdoor market or that shop full of vintage pieces and curios, I’m sure if you look carefully you might discover your very own troubadour of true life tales and exotic unexpected adventures … just look for that mesmerising glinting sparkle in their eyes.
John Paul Kirkham