Class And Gender In British Labour History
Liz Payne hails a rigorous overview of women in the labour movement
Ding Dong
Wednesday 21 September 2011
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When you see an old man in shorts
it exhorts a smile or a grin not snorts.
Bell clapper knees
like the bees’ are not to be sneezed at.
Grazes, peeling skin,
schoolboy scars.
It didn’t even hurt.
Rat in the desert,
Today in lead shoes
like Stanley Matthews,
the no-iron trews
(the ones his wife buys while he eyes the Levi’s)
are Dali-dripping from the valet stand.
Worn for mowing
and odd jobs round the house
(the semi-detached they dreamt would be thatched).
Hitching up the towing
caravan on trips to Hunstanton,
once to the south of France.
When you see that old man,
take another glance
because he’s living life
by the seat of his short pants.
Rachel Carol is a biologist and scientific editor living in Juvisy-sur-Orge, France.
Well Versed is edited by Jody Porter.
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