Adrian Henri
Overview
Adrian Henri was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and painter best remembered as the founder of poetry-rock group The Liverpool Scene and as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology The Mersey Sound, along with Brian Patten
Brian Patten
-Background:Born near Liverpool's docks, he attended Sefton Park School in the Smithdown Road area of Liverpool, where he was noted for his essays and greatly encouraged in his work by Harry Sutcliffe his form teacher. He left school at fifteen and began work for The Bootle Times writing a column...

 and Roger McGough
Roger McGough
Roger Joseph McGough CBE is a well-known English performance poet. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme Poetry Please and records voice-overs for commercials, as well as performing his own poetry regularly...

. The trio of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 poets came to prominence in that city's Merseybeat zeitgeist
Zeitgeist
Zeitgeist is "the spirit of the times" or "the spirit of the age."Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.The...

of the 1960s and 1970s. He was described by Edward Lucie-Smith
Edward Lucie-Smith
John Edward McKenzie Lucie-Smith is a British writer, poet, art critic, curator, broadcaster and author of exhibition catalogues.-Biography:Lucie-Smith was born in Kingston, Jamaica, moving to the United Kingdom in 1946...

 in British Poetry since 1945 as the "theoretician" of the three.
Quotations

Tonight at noonSupermarkets will advertise 3d EXTRA on everything

"Tonight at Noon", from The Mersey Sound|The Mersey Sound (1967)

You will tell me you love meTonight at noon.

"Tonight at Noon", from The Mersey Sound|The Mersey Sound (1967)

This is the morning that we burnt a cardboard hat

"The Blazing Hat, Part Two", from The Mersey Sound|The Mersey Sound (1967)

Well I woke up this mornin' it was Christmas DayAnd the birds were singing the night awayI saw my stocking lying on the chairLooked right to the bottom but you weren't there

"Adrian Henri's Talking After Christmas Blues", from The Mersey Sound|The Mersey Sound (1967)

Love is feeling cold in the back of vansLove is a fanclub with only two fans

"Love Is ...", from The Mersey Sound|The Mersey Sound (1967)

Without you ghost ferries would cross the Mersey manned by skeleton crews

"Without You", from The Mersey Sound|The Mersey Sound (1967)

Prostitutes in the snow in Canning Street like strange erotic snowmen

"Liverpool Poems", from The Mersey Sound|The Mersey Sound (1967)

The daughters of Albiontaking the dawn ferry to tomorrowworrying about what happenedworrying about what hasn't happenedlacing up blue sneakers over brown anklesfastening up brown stockings to blue suspenderbelts

"Mrs Albion You've Got a Lovely Daughter", from The Mersey Sound (1967)

  GUINGUINNGUINNESS ISwhite bird lying unnoticed in a cornersplattered feathersblood running merged with the neonsignsin a puddleGUINNESS IS GOODGUINNESS IS GOOD FORMasks   Masks   Masks   Masks   MasksGUINNESS IS GOOD FOR YOU

"The Entry of Christ into Liverpool", from British Poetry since 1945|British Poetry since 1945 (1970), Ed. Edward Lucie-Smith|Edward Lucie-Smith

 
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