The wireless on, that gap
as valves began to warm,
and all that met our ears
was doubled up. Innuendo
in itself said so much more
to all our fevered thoughts.
Days were stuffed with
Mr Horne, what bishops
said to actresses. ITMA’s
Can I do you now? led on
to Formby’s stick of rock,
Howard’s please yourself.
Of course we did, but not
as he implied lest Whacko!
was on hand. No! Enough
that air waves throbbed
on any frequency of filth
slipped in below the bar.
All in the mind, but we
were so inclined. There
like static, what you got
with the reception every
time you listened in or
twiddled idly at a knob.
Brian Johnstone’s work has appeared throughout Scotland, elsewhere in the UK, in North America and in Europe. He has published six collections, most recently ‘Dry Stone Work’ (Arc, 2014), and his work appears on The Poetry Archive website. His memoir ‘Double Exposure’ will be published by Saraband in 2017.