Neither Here Nor There Poem by Tony Jolley

'They've all gone….'

Sorry?

'No-one left….'

Left where?
What are you on about?

'Gone.'

Oh… I get it:
Were in Neither-Here-nor-There-Land:
Between Living and Nod.
Nod:
Cain's exile East of Eden.
East of Eden.
Film of Steinbeck's book…
James Dean, wasn't it?
Was it?
Not sure now..
Who else?
…. If it was him in the first place.

'No-one left. … All gone.'

Who?
Where, Love, who's gone where?
Hmm, 'Who's on First':
Abbott and Costello.
Is that Abott or Abbot or Abbott…
And why don't I know?
Did I know once?
'Where's on first' wouldn't have worked,
would it?
Wonder if they wrote it,
Or if there was some
Barry Cryer-type gag-writer
Paid a pittance
To make them look good?
Did they have movies then?
Maybe it was just 'sound good', then.

'On the beach…'

Which beach, Love?
Shell Bay?
Dunes to hide and make love in;
Or that time Barry Pike
Kicked the football into the nudist camp
And hadn't got the balls to go and get it.
Wonder where he is now …
And whether his nerve arrived with the years.

'But they're gone! '

Yeah, I've got that, Love:
They've all gone…
To the beach maybe?
Would be fun today in the snow.
Snowball-fighting on the beach: crazy!
Then maybe a dare to plunge in.
Hang on you idiot, you did that once in 5°C
But that was well before you were 50 -
You remember the statistics
For middle aged heart-attacks:
You don't need me to tell myself again do I?
Mum died at 56.

You're right, Love,
You're right:

They're gone.