Dirty Norman’s

Back in the days when us kids was allowed
To eat our fish and chips
From newspaper misprints
Bought cheap from the local mill
Some lucky kids getting a glimpse
Of comic or tits printed in triplicate
In blue, pink and yellow inks
A challenge to read screwed up
Beneath chips dripping with grease
Our chippy of choice was
Norman’s on the High Street
Saloon-style doors separated his two shops:
One flogging sweets and the other fried fish
On each side expectant kids queued
Standing on tip toes for 20p mix-ups
On hanging their heads out the door
To catch shouted supper orders
From the hoards of Mams outside the Shell
“Your Dad wants ten penny scraps
And don’t you forget to get mine pea-wet!”
Norman would swagger through the swinging doors
Wiping his grubby paws on the seat of his pants
Or through his manky combed-over locks
Then stand, legs parted, hands on hips
The Sheriff of lollypops
Choccy bars and cones of chips
Sticky finger-printed glass cases
Chip-fat oil slicks, over-flowing bins
Grime splashed sink backs
His soap-lacking hands gone black
And that fly zapper in the corner
Buzzing yet another bug to death
The Sheriff’s face would twist into a grimace so sour
The Mams would always say:
“If the wind ever changes, he’ll get stuck that way!”
Surveying the lines of kids clutching sweaty fivers
He hated our guts, always shouting for us to
“Hurry up, I ain’t got all day!”
And as soon as we’d paid up
“Will you all just go away?”
We idolised him, wouldn’t leave him alone
All pictured our own future home above
A sweetie, fish and chip shop combined
Greasy feasts any time, pop on tap
Running amok amongst endless treats
I drove past the other week
Its long-since shut, windows papered, boarded up
So I guess that puts pay to our childhood dreams
Of being a Dirty Norman when we grew up

Bring Back Dirty Norman's! Good gracious, Gemma, your poems are pure, 100% evocations. This is so rich, delicious, packed with sensuous goodies, tactile, flavoursome, gooey. Utterly scrumptuous!

Lovely Gemma. I really enjoyed that. Excellent rhythm, subtle rhymes and images which really came to life.

My kind of poetry. Thanks.

Thanks very much to both of you :)

There's going to coem a time when i have to stop pillaging my random childhood to write my poems but luckily I have many more weirdoes in the pipeline to write about before that happens!

good stuff
a mini story
powerful imagery
successfully communicated
most enjoyable.


I can almost taste and smell the place.
I think we have all had a normans.

Our local is called 'Buckies' !

not good chips :-(

Great poem Gemma - well done. I love your use of dialect 'our mam' etc - gives it a real northern flavour.
xxx

Gemma . All your poems are packed with imagery. They capturing the moment so brilliantly. I feel I am there, sharing today with you. I too remember a similar Chippy from way back.