14. Turns by Tony Harrison - A Friend to Maxine Peake

Welcome to The Poetry Exchange. We have conversations with individuals about a poem that has been a friend to them. In exchange we make them a gift: a unique recording of their chosen poem, inspired by the conversation and their thoughts and feelings about the poem. The Poetry Exchange takes place in a range of venues and settings, featuring public visitors and special guests. In this episode, you will hear Maxine Peake talking about the poem that has been a friend to her: ’Turns' by Tony Harrison. Maxine visited The Poetry Exchange at John Rylands Library in May 2016. We’re very grateful to John Rylands Library for hosting The Poetry Exchange. Thank you also to Tony Harrison and Faber & Faber Publishers for kindly granting permission for us to use this poem. Do visit them for further inspiration: www.faber.co.uk/author/tony-harrison/ www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/ Maxine is in conversation with The Poetry Exchange team members, Fiona Bennett and Michael Schaeffer. ’Turns' is read by Michael Schaeffer. ***** Turns by Tony Harrison I thought it made me look more 'working class' (as if a bit of chequered cloth could bridge that gap!) I did a turn in it before the glass. My mother said: It suits you, your dad's cap. (She preferred me to wear suits and part my hair: You're every bit as good as that lot are!) All the pension queue came out to stare. Dad was sprawled beside the postbox (still VR), his cap turned inside up beside his head, smudged H A H in purple Indian ink and Brylcreem slicks displayed so folks might think he wanted charity for dropping dead. He never begged. For nowt! Death's reticence crowns his life's, and me, I'm opening my trap to busk the class that broke him for the pence that splash like brackish tears into our cap. ’Turns' by Tony Harrison. Taken from ‘Selected Poems’. (Penguin; 3rd Revised ed. edition, 7 Feb. 2013)