Where were you at the time of the crime?

In other news, the poet Adrian Mitchell appears to have died. I decided years ago that I don't hold with poetry, but I retained a soft spot for the couple of Mitchell's poems that came my way in school. 'Nostalgia - now threepence off' touched a chord with me, with its evocation of the vanished children's culture of yesteryear. He also seems to have adapted the English language version of Peter Weiss' play Marat/Sade. Mitchell's great achievement, for me, was his poem 'Tell Me Lies About Vietnam', apparently first read out at an anti-war demonstration in Trafalgar Square. It is a masterpiece of invective, a work that took on a new lease of life during Bush and Blair's adventure in Iraq. As a tribute to the late Adrian Mitchell, I am now going to post that poem here in its entirety, until such time as his estate track me down and make me remove it:



I was run over by the truth one day.
Ever since the accident I've walked this way
            So stick my legs in plaster
            Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Heard the alarm clock screaming with pain, 
Couldn't find myself so I went back to sleep again
             So fill my ears with silver
             Stick my legs in plaster
             Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Every time I shut my eyes all I see is flames
Made a marble phone book and I carved all the names
              So coat my eyes with butter
              Fill my ears with silver
              Stick my legs in plaster
              Tell me lies about Vietnam.

I smell something burning, hope it's just my brains.
They're only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
              So stuff my nose with garlic
              Coat my eyes with butter
              Fill my ears with silver
              Stick my legs in plaster
              Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Where were you at the time of the crime?
Down by the Cenotaph drinking slime
              So chain my tongue with whisky
              Stuff my nose with garlic
              Coat my eyes with butter
              Fill my ears with silver
              Stick my legs in plaster
              Tell me lies about Vietnam.

You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out,
You take the human being and you twist it all about
             So scrub my skin with women,
             Chain my tongue with whisky
             Stuff my nose with garlic
             Coat my eyes with butter
             Fill my ears with silver
             Stick my legs in plaster
             Tell me lies about Vietnam.

(poetry and HTML code from here )