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

Mersey- river of change

Oh, this river is a two faced whore!

By day, she sluggishly

meanders

past grimy shores,

stained with the rusting wounds

of long drowned ships.

Iron grey,

flecked with white,

like tresses on an ancient mare,

she lingers,

sullenly,

under bridges, and lock gates

praying the arrival of a high-roller,

fresh breaking from a rough Atlantic crossing.

By night, she glides

past darkened quays

slipping silkily

into her nocturnal role

as bands of brassy lamps cluster

at the water's edge

splashing amber light

upon her restless undulations

enticing the shivering shore to nuzzle

closer to her lava like glow,

her quivering shimmering lurex flow.

Oh, this river is a two faced whore, yet I love her!

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