In January Little Robyn posted part of John Watterson's poem. Here it is in full. RIP Les Barker On a cold rainy night in a thousand folk clubs People stand, as if straining to hear The world was in shock at the loss of a wordsmith The one they had worshipped for years They clutched at their hand stapled booklets To read through what they’d read before And had heard him recite a thousand times over Just to join in his punchlines once more Have you got any news of the poet I just need to hear him you see Have you got any news of the poet He means the whole world to me Treating all as his sisters and brothers Life’s furrow alone he would plough For Les was not like the others, Les was different somehow Although most that he wrote was so comic It had audiences fall off their seats, His pen was a sword aimed precisely toward The liars and bullies and cheats To Trump, to Bush, Blair and Boris He would call them all out to the end When you’re a politician so full of bullshit A poet called Les ain’t your friend Apparently God needed cheering up Sometimes, yes, even He gets downcast So he sent for Les the very accurate wordsmith And his body of work unsurpassed So here’s to the bear and the iceberg To Cosmo and Spot, and mange tout In the hope that day, we might hear him and say Déjà vu, Déjà vu, Deja Vu from John Watterson's Facebook post 2nd March 2023
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