Liverpool Tales from the Mersey Mouth - A book by John Williams

"This is a wonderful collection of writings by John Williams. While it isn't specifically about the Beatles, they are clearly a part of the story, along with the very fiber and fabric of the city that influenced him and them as well. The pieces are short, well written and filled with a delicious sense of humor that shines in the titles as well as the essays." Jan Perry, Cincinnati Post
"John Williams writes in the language of Liverpool, a Scouse scribe who brings to life the people and places, inner thoughts and outer images, the vigour and vitality and essentially, the iron humour of a unique city." Bill Harry, founder of Mersey Beat

Liverpool Poems

This is a sample of my poetry that had been consigned to poetry limbo for years. As Coleridge once remarked, "Poems are never finished, they are simply abandoned." Poetry is a solitary occupation and so I have never been part of any ink crowd. My poetry is a mixture of the formal, such as Villanelles, and free verse. Some of it is an attempt at a lyric form, and I suppose is more correctly called song. Poetry is a difficult medium for people as it presents a conflict of perception because it stems from an oral tradition thousands of years old, yet we insist on reading it as if it were prose and so we encounter problems of understanding. Poetry is nothing if not a motion picture show, a flowing stream of images carrying ideas in its meandering course. I hope you enjoy mine as it contains images of my life.

John Williams

Holds

So burn not the boats of your heart's desires,

though moorings taut with sad yearnings strain,

their sweet cargoes soothe when love's labour tires.

False charts make our compasses turn liars,

then true direction we cannot maintain,

so burn not the boats of your heart's desires.

Night's sacred stars will guide you to love's fires,

in graceful ships outstripping the profane,

their sweet cargoes soothe when love's labour tires.

Fear anchors stronger than finely spun wires,

snarling sleek craft in its slow tangled skein,

so burn not the boats of your heart's desires.

Freedom's song springs not from a slave ship's choirs,

but from the souls' pure vessels launched in pain,

their sweet cargoes soothe when love's labour tires.

Against liberty the trapped sea conspires,

convincing us our true course is insane,

so burn not the boats of your heart's desires

their sweet cargoes soothe when love's labour tires.

My thanks to Tim Kelly and Brigitte C for the new look to my site