An Afternoon With Brian Bilston.

To Manchester on
A rainy day
Mainly because
I wanted to say
Thanks, Brian, for years
Of Twitter fun
And your books – got ’em all
Love every one.
A suburban street,
A concrete church,
A grey-haired crowd,
A pew for perch,
An empty lectern,
Centre stage,
For the face always hidden
On the page.

Now here he is!
Tall frame, short hair
A quiff that I’ve seen
Before, somewhere.
An oblong face,
Blue eyes, wide smile,
Better full-on
Than in profile.
And I thought, as the poet
Ambled past me,
He somewhat resembles
One Mr. Astley.
Yes, my first reaction
When in Brian strolled
Was, “Ô mon Dieu!
We’ve been Rickrolled!”