Just 'Sleeping In'

I’ve always liked this poem by Englishman Roger McGough, who recently celebrated his 82nd birthday.   I thought of it again yesterday when the new-fallen snow covered our streets, sidewalks and yards – unblemished but just waiting for the tread of neighborhood kids’ feet and tire tracks.

 

               Sleeping In  

 

Our street is dead lazy 

Especially in winter. 

Some mornings you wake up

And it’s still lying there   

Saying nothing.  Huddled
under its white counterpane.

But soon the lorries arrive
Like angry Mums,
Pull back the blankets
And send it shivering
Off to work.

    McGough, by the way, grew up in Liverpool, home to another rather well-known group of lads who made their way in the performance industry under the name The Beatles.  In the 1960s, McGough started making a name in his own right with the publication of his best-selling poetry book The Mersey Sound.    

 

Since then he’s led a highly successful writing career as a performance poet, children’s author and playwright.  A broadcaster, too, he hosts the BBC’s “Poetry Please” show and still makes his home in the Mersey area of Liverpool.