An evening with John Hegley

Went to see John Hegley last night at the Everyman. Very good, very funny and the resume below sums it up!

Songs, poems and joining in's. For audiences new (but not newer than seven) and old.

Observations on insects, people and potatoes. John Hegley is an Edinburgh Festival regular who has also appeared in Australia, Canada, Columbia, Zanzibar and Luton - the small town of his upbringing. He has nine books to his name, two albums and one mug.

Warning: Contains Rhyming Language.

The poem below is not one he read last night but the only one I could find on the web. He is also a spectacle wearer and despises people who opt for contact lenses! It is very clever how he makes his poems rhyme and they really have to be read out loud to get the proper effect of the rhymes.

Poem de terre
I'm not a normal person
whatever that may be
there is something very very vegetable
about me,
this human skin I'm skulking in
it's only there for show,
I'm a potato.
When I told my father
it was something of a blow,
he was hurt
and he called me a dirty so-and-so.
He kicked up a racket
and he grabbed me by the jacket;
I said, 'Daddy will you pack it in
I need you for my father not my foe
Daddy, will you try and help me grow,
won't you love me for my blemishes
and look me in the eye
before one of us is underground
and the other says goodbye?'
And he said 'No'.

When I was a schoolboy
I never knew why
I was so crap at cross-country running
but now I know
why I was so slow.
I'm a potato.

Later today Mel and I are off to see a double bill of War and Peace at 1.30 and 5.30 so watch this space.