Charlie Cairoli came to town
the main attraction at the village fete c. 1972
maybe tied with the ice cream van
opposite the mental hospital, you can't call it that now
Do you remember the famous clown, known
to us kids from his long-running children's show Right Charlie!
My sister's friend Lorraine started crying
too much ice cream, or something about her dad
who was a wrong 'un we all agreed
later they emigrated to the New Hebrides*, an
irrelevant detail you should probably
edit out later
A few years later Charlie died in Blackpool
mum said we were lucky to see him
and now his archive can be seen
in that town's showbiz museum
- talkin' 'bout Charlie Cairoli
Red nose, bowler hat
a moustache slightly larger than Chaplin's
At a circus show in Munich 1939
Hitler laughed at the clown, presented Charlie with a watch
years later he walked to end of the North Pier in Blackpool
and threw it in the sea
- talkin' 'bout Charlie Cairoli
Although another version says he was given
an inscribed briefcase and cigarette case
so who knows
For three months during the war
he was interned on the Isle of Wight
but we don't like to remember things like that
He was on This Is Your Life in 1970
required viewing for the dreamy parade
of friends and happy families
oh to live a life of such riches
I went to see the art gallery
inside the mental hospital
that week I had gout
my favourite piece was The Maze by William Kurelek
A volunteer - in America they like to say docents -
stood in front of me blocking my view
and delivered a monotone ten minute
explanation of everything in the picture
and the story of the artist's life
And one day soon I will run around the grounds
of the mental hospital psychiatric institution
now the gout has long gone and
my life contains riches
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