Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dogs' Tails: Poems of a Lifetime

By Phil Dyson

The poems in this book are selected from a lifetime of poetical prosing. They have been placed in an order which suggests the changes from childhood to old age. Before putting it into the hands of your nearest and dearest, youd better read them yourself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Sep 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496989000

Phil Dyson

Phil Dyson was born in Yorkshire, England, in1934 and graduated from the University of Leeds, Department of English Literature in 1957. He taught English and Drama England and Nigeria, and now shares a retirement of cultural activities with his wife, Charmian.

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Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dogs’ Tails

POEMS OF A LIFETIME

Phil Dyson

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AuthorHouse™ UK Ltd.

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© 2014 Phil Dyson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/27/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8899-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8900-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014915755

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Eternity Lasts A Lifetime

The Frightened Angel

My Lickle Ens

Wot I Got

The Dog And The Feller

Beetle

This Is Chocky

Bold Billy Bluebottle

Pretty Bunny

Specky Foureyes

Dave And The Lorry

Sins Against The Frog

Sore Lip

The Woods

The Bottled Man

The Heart Of Leggerty Wood

Bonfire Night

The Visit To The Beavers’ Lodge

Little Dog Barking

Cats’ Paradise

Jack Hacket

Big Jimmy

The Way To Deal With Wasps

The Agony In The Garden

The Magnet Of Brimham Rocks

I Remember, I Remember

Caught Inside A Brownie Box

Grass Of Parnassus

Weasel

The Tip

The Art Of Newting

Babel

On Painting Charm’s Picture,St Andrew’s Church, Plymouth

St Andrew’s Church, Plymouth

Miles Giffard

A Happy Fly

Catching Moments At Sutton Clough

Whitby

Concrete Boat

News Bulletin

Snaily House

Smoke

On Gazing Into Double Glazing

Tors

The Weir At Gunnislake

Ditsworthy Warren House

One And All

Karen Gershon Reads Her Poems At Plymouth Arts Centre

In The Theatre

The Play In The Park

Silver Wedding Day

Golden Wedding Poem

Mrs Felicity Beechcroft

The Starlings Of Crowdy Reservoir

Thistledown Falling On Tavistock

Evening On The Grand Canal

To A Stand Up About To Stand Down

For Charmian

"What are little boys made of?

         Slugs and snails and puppy dogs’ tails.

               That’s what little boys are made of."

ETERNITY LASTS A LIFETIME

My age was always one or two or three,

The four, then five, then six, then seven,

And as far as I can see

When I’m older, ten or eleven,

Like always, I’ll go on being me.

Now that I’ve grown to be thirty three

I’ve got another for my lover,

And as far as we can see

We’ll be in love for ever and ever,

Always me for you and you for me.

My three score and ten’s supposed to be

The age at which we pass away,

But as far as I can see,

Like always, every day,

I’ll never be conscious of not being me.

THE FRIGHTENED ANGEL

There’s angels there –

My auntie didn’t have to tell me that,

Although it is the sort of thing she likes to say –

Like telling me poor Julia climbed the stairs to heaven,

Which made me scared to go upstairs to bed.

All the same,

This is true:

There really are angels in that field.

I’ve seen them.

They stand around in nighties looking rather fed up,

Some of them are even weeping.

I crept up to one because a stick I wanted lay across her feet,

And she was cold!

Her toes were icy.

Damp icy.

And she has some words like in a little box in comics:

So I read:

"Scared

To the