Terry Griffiths Poet Free verse

Mr Coe

Cycling through Meadowway with my chum, 
A man with a receding hairline & greying remnants of his locks wearing a blue jumper
Appears round the corner. I wonder, to what percentage of onlookers around here would he just be a stranger?
Many men have greying hair which they are losing and wear blue jumpers,
But this was so clearly a Jason hairline & a Jason jumper.

I remember his cheerful face I think of every time I watch a Justin Guitar tutorial 
And how he accidentally stole my pencil in a maths lesson,
His "see me" in my exercise book that I simply ignored,
And that parents’ evening where he asked me to step out of the room as he spoke to my dad solo.

I remember the residential trip where he didn’t like us banging on the outdoor drum
Or using as podiums ancient tree trunks ?
Come on Mr Coe, let us have a break, I thought 
From us desperately trying to understand the things that you have us taught.

One morning, I think the first of Year Five, in my Learning Journal,
I crossed out in his note every Tesni, her, hers and she
Replacing them with Terry, him, his and he.
I didn’t think that Mr Coe would see.
But he did. He asked me why, I said I didn’t know. I just knew there was a reason,
But I wanted it to go.


In front of the whole class, he said how this nine-year-old girl Tesni has a gift
For creative writing.


I remember being shown these radical Google features
And I sent Jason a presentation on planets that I made just for fun.
Mad Villains Everywhere Must Just Stop Using New Pencils.
I wonder if he still has mine from that maths lesson.

I remember his irritating version of rounders
Where you couldn’t sit down once you were out.
I remember somehow getting into a cross country event and coming thirty seventh.
Now I tell people it was out of sixty but annoyingly still haven’t found out.

I wonder, if I stopped Jason walking on and asked him, would he?
Would he remember me?

But I have counselling in five minutes, so have to walk on like a stranger
Without all these memories.

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