Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
ROTTEN JOHN
By P B Taylor
I believe he was known as John
Amongst the other long tales
His name they said it sounded happy
I thought so, I was right
He did try, I’ll give him that
His important big head proved it
Womankind, always his fast undoing
So pathetic and sexually crude
And then, always to prove your point
It finished again, always as the wind
Short and sharp and what a waste
An end to that happiness I then inherited
Wimbledon. Summer 1982
Phillip Taylor MBE was born in Amersham and educated at London University and the Inns of Court School of Law. His working life was spent, firstly at the BBC in London, in the Ministry of Defence and the Army, and then as a barrister at law and mediator at Lincoln’s Inn after he was called to the Bar.
He was Chairman of the Society of Civil Service Authors Poetry Workshop from 1982 to 1986 and contributed to their annual anthology FOCUS. His poems and short stories have appeared in journals, magazines and newsletters and some have been broadcast by the BBC. He has produced several poetry collections since 1972.
The Poetry Workshop was founded by Bill Barnes in 1970. It was a part of the Society of Civil Service Authors (founded in 1935) which now known as the Society of Civil and Public Service Writers.
ROTTEN JOHN
By P B Taylor
I believe he was known as John
Amongst the other long tales
His name they said it sounded happy
I thought so, I was right
He did try, I’ll give him that
His important big head proved it
Womankind, always his fast undoing
So pathetic and sexually crude
And then, always to prove your point
It finished again, always as the wind
Short and sharp and what a waste
An end to that happiness I then inherited
Wimbledon. Summer 1982
Phillip Taylor MBE was born in Amersham and educated at London University and the Inns of Court School of Law. His working life was spent, firstly at the BBC in London, in the Ministry of Defence and the Army, and then as a barrister at law and mediator at Lincoln’s Inn after he was called to the Bar.
He was Chairman of the Society of Civil Service Authors Poetry Workshop from 1982 to 1986 and contributed to their annual anthology FOCUS. His poems and short stories have appeared in journals, magazines and newsletters and some have been broadcast by the BBC. He has produced several poetry collections since 1972.
The Poetry Workshop was founded by Bill Barnes in 1970. It was a part of the Society of Civil Service Authors (founded in 1935) which now known as the Society of Civil and Public Service Writers.
