I’ve forgotten when I first read

books about John and Mary,

The Happy Train or Let’s Learn To Read

 

but I remember the comics

dad bought home each Saturday afternoon

from work. Bundled in his arms were

 

Beano, Dandy, Eagle, Hotspur, Look & Learn

and I’d devour them one at a time

and no one stopped me.

 

I loved the strips: Corporal Clott,

Desperate Dan, Dan Dare and the Mekon,

Korky the Cat, Roy of the Rovers,

 

Dennis the Menace, Biffo the Bear,

The Iron Fish, The Bash Street Kids

and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

 

in issue 310 of Look & Learn.

I can draw the old man with a grey beard

and red and white sock for a hat,

 

I can draw the wedding guests

in their tricolours, ruffs and red jackets.

and no one stopped me.

 

I can draw the mariner with a cross-bow

shooting the albatross.

I can draw the ship idle upon a painted ocean.

 

I can draw the ghostly green shades

playing dice for the souls of the crew.

I can draw the fierce monsters in the slimy sea.

 

I can even draw the crew

sinking in a whirlpool

and no one will be able to argue.