As I prowled through Parentheses
I met an Robin and a Owl
My Grammarboots they thrilled like bees
My Vowelhat did gladly growl
Tis my delight each Friedegg Night
To chomp a Verbal Sandwich
Scots Consonants light up my Pants
And marinade my Heart in Language
Alphabet Soup was all my joy!
From Dreadfast up to Winnertime
I swam, a naked Pushkinboy
Up wodka vaterfalls of rhyme
And reached the summit of Blue Howl
To find a shining Suit of Words
And joined an Robin and a Owl
In good Duke Ellington’s Band of Birds
December 18, 2008
Merry Crambo and a Hippy New Year
with love from
Adrian Mitchell, The Shadow Poet Laureate
(I can’t write letters and it’s hard to phone yer as I recover from two months’ in Pneumonia so take this new riff with a glass of good wine and drink to Peace in 2009)
[Adrian Mitchell died on 20 December 2008]
ADRIAN MITCHELL: SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
POETRY
Fantasy Pamphlet No.24 (Fantasy Press, 1955)
Poems (Jonathan Cape, 1964)
Out Loud (Cape Goliard, 1968; Writers and Readers’ Publishing Cooperative, 1976)
Ride the Nightmare (Jonathan Cape, 1971)
The Apeman Cometh (Jonathan Cape, 1975)
For Beauty Douglas: Collected Poems 1953-1979 (Allison & Busby, 1982)
On the Beach at Cambridge (Allison & Busby, 1984)
Love Songs of World War Three (Allison & Busby, 1989)
Greatest Hits: His 40 Golden Greats (Bloodaxe Books, 1991).
Blue Coffee: Poems 1985-1996 (Bloodaxe Books, 1996).
Heart on the Left: Poems 1953-1984 (Bloodaxe Books, 1997).
All Shook Up: Poems 1997-2000 (Bloodaxe Books, 2000).
The Shadow Knows: Poems 2000-2004 (Bloodaxe Books, 2004).
Tell Me Lies: Poems 2005-2008 (Bloodaxe Books, 2009).
Come On Everybody: Poems 1953-2008 (Bloodaxe Books, 2012).
POETRY FOR CHILDREN
Nothingmas Day (Allison & Busby, 1984)
Strawberry Drums, ed. (Anthology, Macdonald, 1989)
All My Own Stuff (Simon and Schuster, 1991).
The Thirteen Secrets of Poetry (Macdonald, 1993).
The Orchard Book of Poems ed. (Orchard, 1995).
Balloon Lagoon (Orchard Books, 1997).
Dancing in the Street, ed. (Orchard Books, 1999).
Zoo of Dreams (Orchard Books, 2001).
A Poem a Day, ed. (Orchard Books, 2001).
Daft as a Doughnut (Orchard Books, 2004).
Umpteen Pockets: Collected Poems for Children (Orchard, 2009).
Shapeshifters: Tales from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Frances Lincoln, 2009).
PLAYS & THEATRE
Marat-Sade (Marion Boyars, 1965).
U.S. (Calder Boyars, 1968).
Tyger (Jonathan Cape, 1971).
Man Friday and Mind Your Head (Methuen, 1974).
You Must Believe All This (Methuen, 1981).
Gogol: The Government Inspector (Methuen, 1985).
Animal Farm Lyrics (Methuen Young Dramatists, 1985).
The Pied Piper (Oberon Books, 1988).
Lope de Vega: Fuente Ovejuna and Lost in a Mirror (Absolute Classics, Oberon, 1988).
Calderon: The Mayor of Zalamea and two other plays (Absolute Classics, Oberon, 1990).
Plays with Songs: Tyger Two, Man Friday, Satie Day/Night and In the Unlikely Event of an Emergency (Oberon Books, 1996).
The Siege (Oberon Books, 1996).
The Snow Queen (Oberon Books, 1997).
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Oberon Books, 1998).
The Mammoth Sails Tonight! (Oberon Books, 1999).
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (Oberon Books, 2001).
Two Beatrix Potter Plays: Jemima Puddleduck and Her Friends and Peter Rabbit and His Friends (Oberon Books, 2004).
Just Adrian (Oberon Books, 2011).
Pushkin’s Boris Godunov (Oberon Books, 2012).
CHILDREN’S STORIES
The Ugly Duckling (Dorling Kindersley, 1994).
The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Dorling Kindersley, 1996).
Maudie and the Green Children (Tradewind, 1996).
Nobody Rides The Unicorn (Transworld, 1999).
My Cat Mrs Christmas (Orion, 1999).
The Adventures of Robin Hood and Marian (Orchard Books, 2004).
RECORDINGS
The Dogfather: double CD (57 Productions, 2000).
Adrian Mitchell reading from his poems (The Poetry Archive, 2003).
Many out of print Adrian Mitchell titles are available from Ripping Yarns Bookshop, 335 Archway Road, London N6 4EJ, EMAIL [email protected]
About the Author
Adrian Mitchell (1932-2008) was a prolific poet, playwright and children’s writer. Born in London, he worked as a journalist from 1955 to 1966, when he became a full-time writer, publishing three novels with Cape, If You See Me Comin’ (1961), The Bodyguard (1970) and Wartime (1973). He gave many hundreds of readings throughout the world in theatres, colleges, pubs, prisons, streets, public transport, cellars, clubs and schools of all kinds. Many of his plays and stage adaptations were performed at the National Theatre as well as by the Royal Shakespeare Company and other theatre companies. In 2002, the socialist magazine Red Pepper dubbed him Shadow Poet Laureate and asked him to write regular republican poems for their columns. In a National Poetry Day poll in 2005, his poem ‘Human Beings’ was voted the poem that most people would like to see launched into space.
After four collections with Cape – Poems (1964), Out Loud (1968), Ride the Nightmare (1971) and The Apeman Cometh (1975), Allison & Busby published For Beauty Douglas: Collected Poems 1953-1979 (1982), On the Beach at Cambridge (1984) and Love Songs of World War Three (1989). His later poetry titles were all published by Bloodaxe: Adrian Mitchell’s Greatest Hits: His 40 Golden Greats (1991), Blue Coffee: Poems 1985-1996 (1996), Heart on the Left: Poems 1953-1984 (1997), All Shook Up: Poems 1997-2000 (2000), The Shadow Knows: Poems 2000-2004 (2004), the posthumously published Tell Me Lies: Poems 2005-2008 (2009), and his retrospective Come On Everybody: Poems 1953-2008 (2012).
His collected poems for children, Umpteen Pockets (Orchard Books), and Shapeshifters, his versions of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, illustrated by Alan Lee (Frances Lincoln), were both published in 2009. Just Adrian, a collection of his theatre writings, edited by Celia Mitchell and Daniel Cohen, was published by Oberon Books in 2011; his adaptation of Pushkin’s Boris Godunov is published by Oberon in 2012.
Adrian Mitchell’s website: www.adrianmitchell.co.uk
Copyright
All rights reserved
Copyright © Estate of Adrian Mitchell 2012
First published 2012 by
Bloodaxe Books Ltd,
Highgreen,
Tarset,
Northumberland NE48 1RP.
This ebook edition first published in 2013.
www.bloodaxebooks.com
For further information about Bloodaxe titles please visit our website or write to the above address for a catalogue.
Cover design: Neil Astley & Pamela Robertson-Pearce.
The right of Adrian Mitchell (1932-2008) to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those res
ponsible may be liable in law accordingly.
ISBN: 978 1 78037 051 4 ebook
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