I Come From

I come from playing
Can’t Buy Me Love
from turning it over
and playing
You Can’t Do That
then Can’t Buy Me Love
then You Can’t Do That
over and over at 45rpm
as many times as I could
before switching off
and catching sometimes missing
the bus to school
 
I come from a Mum and Dad
who put the children first
who made the little money
go a long way
 
I come from easily embarrassed
from sometimes shy
but stubborn too
and from reading and reading
and keeping notebooks
 
I come from that cheap guitar
impossible to tune
and so hard on my fingers
 
and from books
and music
and poems
and performances
 
I come from many years
here and there
and first love
and second love
and third love
and marriage once
and marriage twice
 
and from here
where I’m happy to be
in a little town
by the sea