“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” – Andre Gide
It’s a sporting life supporting life
For the pregnant mums on the ward
All the hard work that has to follow
I think debut mums should be warned
5th May 2023 – Not sure what prompted this empathetic little ode. I definitely wasn’t speaking from any experience.
In and out lifestyle, it becomes a bore
It’s boring doing the same things, I won’t anymore
In and out, repeat, repeat, clock the card
In and out, clocked in, trying too hard
5th May 2023 – Despite never having worked a day in my life I already was aware of the realities of the rat race. I’ve spent many years clocking in and out since then and admittedly, I do still hate that.
You gotta have brains to make the exam
If you don’t you’re not a man
I decided I didn’t want to try
But you can’t tell the teachers
They just ask why
5th May 2023 – At this time I would’ve been preparing to do trial exams before the real ones next year. I seem to be equating intelligence with manliness.
It was your fault all along
I laughed when you got it wrong
You were caught in the wrong place
So don’t blame me cos I’ll spit in your face
2nd May 2023 – Hello, contrarian. Psychologists – analyse!
I wanna be nice, I wanna be a friend
Instead of driving someone round the bend
I don’t care if people don’t defend me
I don’t care, I don’t wanna be trendy
2nd May 2023 – Teenage statement of intent.
Let’s all go to the big, big city
With dust and scum, all things pretty
We’ll get a jet and pollute the air
Cos in New York they just don’t care
1st May 2023 – Not sure what I had against New York at the time. I think it was just an example of a city to use and had been used by the Sex Pistols as a song too.
Still living in the countryside I knew that cities were where things were happening and I felt desperately that I wanted to experience it. At the same time, I also knew that the countryside had very few eyes to discover the shenanigans of us bored teenagers.
In the next couple of years, I started to go to London infrequently for gigs and record shopping and always returned home blowing out chunks of black snot.
When I finally did end up in a big city, Sydney, it was the perfect balance between urban and rural. I still feel very lucky to have had that opportunity.
I’m in a gang, gang of the white socks
We fight the gangs who wear pink frocks
We hate the red socks, the green and blue
So join the whites and we won’t mess with you
30th Apr 2023 – In our first week back at school, my final year, the whole school was told that boys were not allowed to wear white socks, they were not part of the uniform. Of course, most of us preferred white socks and when we questioned teachers further about it they insisted that it was because they believed that those wearing white socks were part of a gang. We had no idea where this was coming from and were pretty incredulous about it.
Some people say you look a mess
But I don’t care how you dress
I think those people dress pretty bad
They look pretty silly in last year’s fad
Mess mess mess
Dress dress dress
Fad fad fad fad – had!
27th Apr 2023 – It never occurred to younger me that the 2nd and 3rd lines contradict each other but the meaning was more along the lines that I don’t care how you dress, that it is neither good nor bad.
At this time the word ‘trendy’ was becoming popular and kids started dressing smart to impress girls and (when older) go clubbing etc. I found it very dull and uninspiring.
The way I dressed was messy and in a generic punk style. In another way, I did care how people dressed because it was very easy to identify people to avoid and people who would be allies. Our tribes were easily identifiable in these times before all cultural fashions became appropriated (except perhaps for the metalheads). Meeting people wearing shirts or badges with bands from our subculture gave comfort and solidarity. We knew we were on the same side.
Wet armpits produce a smelly pong
Armed with Brut 33 to rid the wrong
So I can go onstage to sing another song
But does my Brut 33 last that long?
27th Apr – 2023 – Brut 33 was the cheap deodorant favoured by us poor smelly teenagers but only once we actually realised that we smelt pretty bad a lot of the time. That’s what happened with only bathing once a week. We had school uniforms too and I don’t remember having a change during the week.
In this poem, I am also already imagining myself as a rock star. I’d need to up my game on the word front though!
Barry
You look cool with a beard of bumfluff
Cos it looks cool to have that stuff
Barry the maniac, daredevil cool
Barry ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha fool!
25th Apr 2023 – Barry was in our class, which one I can’t remember though and his name wasn’t Barry. I’m not sure how he earned that nickname. I remember Barry was sometimes a word used in a derogatory way too (‘you Barry!’) and I’m also not sure where that came from either. Google doesn’t seem to know either. Look at all the things we don’t know.
Tits
Round, shapely, curved or flat
Big, small, nippley, ones that sag
25th Apr 2023 – As a hetero male teenager female breasts were a mystical thing for a while. I don’t really remember thinking about them too much though but others certainly did. Jim was dating Bernice who was the most well-endowed of our friends. She was a nice, funny girl but I didn’t like the way others were obsessed about her boobs as if that was her sole asset.
I was already well developed with my contrariness and being one of the lads was something I was slowly coming to loathe (unless it suited me, of course!). I remember Brian Chapman bragging about having seen Alison Pratt’s chest and that she had no boobs but huge nipples.
I was envious of the boys’ stories but never felt comfortable talking about girls in this way. I was obviously thinking about boobs though!
I had already decided that if I had a girlfriend I wouldn’t have sex with her for at least three months to see if she really liked me.
So my preference became for a small chest, always rooting for the underdog. This led to a memorable exchange with TLJ in late 2001 after I finally revealed to her about an infidelity and her response was ‘Did she have a smaller chest than me?’
Amy too was a small-breasted angel that matched her small body. However, she wasn’t happy with her chest and got herself an upgrade about a year or two into our relationship. Whatever makes her happy. Her doctor (are they doctors?) did a good job and she didn’t end up with obviously fake orbs. As she has gotten older and her petite frame started to mature into an auntie’s body they are a better match now. She still gets stares though. The downside of this operation though was painful nipples when touched, which is a shame.
It seems I have a lot to consider on this subject and here is a final thought. I hate the word ‘tits’. It’s just way too sharp and spiky for something that is soft and cuddly. Totally heterological. (Yes, I had to look that up!)
1994ever 