Tony Harrison QUOTES

1 " Weeping for the dead's a waste of breath -
they're lucky, they can't die again. "

2 " Our heads will happen cold when this is found. "

― Tony Harrison

3 " Long Distance II

Though my mother was already two years dead
Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas,
put hot water bottles her side of the bed
and still went to renew her transport pass.

You couldn’t just drop in. You had to phone.
He’d put you off an hour to give him time
to clear away her things and look alone
as though his still raw love were such a crime.

He couldn’t risk my blight of disbelief
though sure that very soon he’d hear her key
scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief.
He knew she’d just popped out to get the tea.

I believe life ends with death, and that is all.
You haven’t both gone shopping; just the same,
in my new black leather phone book there’s your name
and the disconnected number I still call. "

― Tony Harrison , Selected Poems

4 " Sweet pulp and sour skin -
Or was it sweet outside, and sour within? "

― Tony Harrison

5 " ah've been on t'dole all mi life in fucking Leeds! "

― Tony Harrison , V.

6 " Poetry's the speech of kings. You're one of those
Shakespeare gives the comic bits to: prose!
All poetry (even Cockney Keats?) you see
's been dubbed by [Us] into RP,
Received Pronunciation, please believe [Us]
your speech is in the hands of the Receivers. "

― Tony Harrison , Permanently Bard: Selected Poetry

7 " Smokers of the world unite!
On t'count o' three, all light up, right?
1-2-3...
You've all been cowed.
I've changed the law and it's allowed.
Try again then. 1-2-3:
all light your fags now after me. "

― Tony Harrison , Prometheus

8 " Back in our silences and sullen looks,
for all the Scotch we drink, what's still between us
not the thirty or so years, but books, books, books. "

― Tony Harrison

9 " Articulation is the tongue-tied's fighting "

― Tony Harrison , Continuous: 50 Sonnets from The School of Eloquence