A boozer within
hockling distance
From the Tyne.
Now taken-down
And made into
A roundabout, a
Road widening scheme.
Whatever happened
To Slalom D ?
That super strength.
That would have you
Spinning on your back.
Because that’s what
Happened to the Doll.
It was spun around
And taken-down,
Smashed to smithereens.
Tag Archives: Newcastle
The Broken Doll
The Lit and Phil
In the basement
is the Loftus Room.
Where a grand piano
waits to be played.
There Swan demonstrated
the first electric light.
Forget about Edison
and all that shite.
This was the place
it happened first.
Where a Pet Shop Boy
sneaked down for a smoke.
Where upstairs is a library lined
with busts of marble men.
There’s a hush and a musty smell
of old books and floor polish.
A lady serving biscuits, coffee and tea,
and we sit round a large table reading.
On a Saturday morning at the Lit and Phil.
Lit and Phil
I remember the feeling well,
and the smell, a musty stink,
and the lady ladling out
cups of tea,
and the busts of important men
atop roman plinths,
and the racks of books,
and the bit below stairs,
the Loftus Room,
a large black grand piano.
A time when everything that’s read
comes from a comic,
book and newspaper.