One of my first introductions to poetry of an altogether different kind (but, really, how different?), was through the music of The Clash. It wasn't until college that I discovered them -- I know, a crime. I was a child of the 80's and you know what that meant....big hair, big earrings and terrible music. A dear friend of mine loved The Clash and had a marvelous story about using their lyrics for a junior high assignment. (Thank you Steve, wave hello, you're on camera.)
I don't quite remember the details -- did the teacher ask them to write a poem, or just summarize their summer vacation? -- but Steve came in, stood at the front of the class and read the lyrics to "Lost in the Supermarket" by The Clash:
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for that special offer
A guaranteed personality
I wasn't born so much as I fell out
Nobody seemed to notice me
We had a hedge back home in the suburbs
Over which I never could see
I heard the people who lived on the ceiling
Scream and fight most scarily
Hearing that noise was my first ever feeling
That's how it's been all around me
I'm all tuned in, I see all the programmes
I save coupons from packets of tea
I've got my giant hit discoteque album
I empty a bottle and I feel a bit free
The kids in the halls and the pipes in the walls
Make me noises for company
Long distance callers make long distance calls
And the silence makes me lonely
And it's not hear
It disappear
I'm all lost
Quite powerful lyrics now matter what age -- but particularly poignant coming out of a 12 year old's mouth, no? Apparently the teacher was very concerned that Steve was experiencing abuse at home, or at the very least, had some abusive neighbors and was suffering from loneliness. She was also a bit stunned at the poetry coming out of this kid. So worldly, so mature. One can almost imagine her sighing "ah, they grow up so fast." In reality, he was just a very hip kid who knew a good poem when he read it.
While not an example of the most poetic Clash lyrics ever penned, and there are many in my opinion, these words do capture a very specific kind of feeling, a mood. "I wasn't born so much as I fell out" is very powerful to me and is, again, an example of how the right combination of words packs a punch.
I always smile when I hear this song and imagine Steve's teacher being both horrified and, I suspect, a tad jealous at his early poetic skill. It reminds me that poetry can be found anywhere...in anything...especially outside the turreted castle walls of academia.
