Jed of the Dodgems
My brother said you can’t make a mountain out of a sow’s arse
and at sixteen he ran away to join the fair;
changed his name from Gordon to Jed of the Dodgems,
grew his hair, slicked it back with Brylcreem
perfected the art of rolling a fag with just one hand
and kept a set of knuckledusters in his back pocket.
He had a girl in every town and tattooed most of them
on his arms with a pot of blue ink and a bent pin;
gained a reputation for cheating at cards,
short changed the punters pocketing the profits,
lied to his boss, swore it was the other guy,
got kicked out and made a million selling windscreens.
He brought his kids up with a loud voice and a quick hand,
taught them – honesty’s not always the best policy.
Ilse Pedler lives and works as a veterinary surgeon in Kendal, her first collection Auscultation was published by Seren in 2021 www.ilsepedler.com