Brian Patten (7 February 1946 / Liverpool / England)
Party Piece
He said:
'Let's stay here
Now this place has emptied
And make gentle pornography with one another,
While the partygoers go out
And the dawn creeps in,
Like a stranger.
Let us not hesitate
Over what we know
Or over how cold this place has become,
But let's unclip our minds
And let tumble free
The mad, mangled crocodile of love.'
So they did,
There among the woodbines and guinness stains,
And later he caught a bus and she a train
And all there was between them then
was rain.
Read poems about / on: rain, love
PoemHunter.com Updates
-
World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
celebrated on May 21st every year
-
Your Favorite Poets’ Favorite Books of Poetry
-
Daily Rituals of Famous Authors
Writers seem to be the most prone to unshakeable routines and elaborate superstitions.
-
Incredible Reading Rooms Around the World
Cozy, beautiful places to curl up with a good book...
Top 500 Poems
-
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
-
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
-
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou
-
If You Forget Me
Pablo Neruda
-
Dreams
Langston Hughes
-
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
-
If
Rudyard Kipling
-
A Dream Within A Dream
Edgar Allan Poe
-
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
-
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou

This is just superb. The evocation of place and atmosphere - Woodbines, Guiness, gentle pornogrphy, .... and the ending caps it all.
Love this poem.
One of the great poems. Shows you don't have to be obscure or clever.
'The mad, mangled crocodile of love', fab!
I got The Mersey Sound for my 10th birthday from our lodger. It is still one of my best loved books.