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

Phoenix inflamed

I flash and strike like lightning in my rage,

At those who bind the passions in their soul,

They keep a Phoenix In a bamboo cage!

The world to them is but a burlesque stage,

Where they pose, strut and revel in their role,

I flash and strike like lightning in my rage.

They learn new lines from someone else's page,

and pawn their lives to redeem a false goal,

They keep a Phoenix in a bamboo cage!

They sneer at the saint and scorn the sad sage,

While life Is spent in the quest for control,

I flash and strike like lightning in my rage,

Most play their piece until informed, by age,

They have mistaken poor parts for the whole,

They keep a Phoenix In a bamboo cage!

Some feel regret when life's meaning they gauge,

and grant too late their bolted hearts parole,

I flash and strike like lightning in my rage,

They keep a Phoenix in a bamboo cage!

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