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in collection Being the Bad Guy,
2007, Peterloo
Palinode
I thought a palinode
was an ode about something that happened way back, but actually
it is an ode where you retract something you said previously,
which, by a happy coincidence, still fits.
I
used to like the Rolling Stones. I think
I
liked the way they used to shake and shout.
I
used to like to dope but now I drink
To
cope without the dope I do without.
I
used to like to hate the middlebrow;
Middle-class-England,
middle-of-the-road.
I’d
make the very devil of a row;
I
was an intellectual little toad.
I
think I thought I didn’t give a damn.
I
think a lot of what I thought was crap.
I
think the real me, the me I am,
No
sweat (you bet)’s a better sort of chap.
I
used to think I liked what now I never.
I
used to like what drives me up the wall.
I
used to think I was so bloody clever
And
now I never think a-bloody-tall.
John Whitworth
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