John Osborne
We used to go round for Sunday lunch
with a man who collected weather vanes.
He always ate at 3 pm which my mum hated
but I always liked how dangerous it felt
and afterwards we’d go out into the garden
and he’d show us his latest weather vane.
‘This one’s called The Running Soldier,’
he’d tell us, lighting up a cigarette,
‘in memory of my father.’
These metal silhouettes all had meaning.
The boat was a present when he retired from the navy
and he bought the little donkey standing on the back
of a big donkey at Lincoln Christmas market.
‘It’s important to mark life’s big occasions,’
he’d tell us as my mum politely counted them,
her finger scanning the vastness of the garden;
weather vanes pointing across the barley fields
towards his beloved Netherlands.
’22’ she said, and he was proud that it was so many.
I never really knew why we went round there
but he made my parents laugh.
It was interesting hearing him talking sometimes.
He knew so much about clouds.
John Osborne writes poems, stories and books. His first book Radio Head was Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 and he has had poetry published in The Guardian, The Big Issue, Rialto and The Spectator. His poems have been broadcast on Radio 1, Radio 3, Radio 4, BBC 6 Music, XFM and Soho Radio. His most recent collection, A Supermarket Love Story, is published by Go Faster Stripe.
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