Roger McGough now the President of the Poetry Society has been described in the press as a Liverpool poet
and a great one to refer to and his poem : To Macca's Shirt is an amusing look at laundry and the need
to focus on the everyday things of life: an oasis of sorts when McGough in company with other illustrious
poets refers to the Silver Beetles on tour ........... though not to be confused with my white Beetle which was
a car I had for several years or those awful insects that crawl about the bed in hot countries lived worked and
visited over the years.
This shirt is "too flash for the teacher" so the teacher is condemned to a life of boredom with such a disadvantageous comparison to "Macca's Shirt" - though perhaps Mr McGough is out of touch with European teachers as on different
occasions my flat mate and fellow teacher would make your hair stand on end with his flashy shirts worn to work
on the night shift.
Probaby Roger McGough is referring to Teachers in England! Whereas the connection is made to the laundry bag .... "squirrelled you away" "Forty years on I re-read the label: Esquire regd: "Glasgow" ."...........a touch of class at last!
So in one article apparently McGough and his poetry are now read out at Funerals and here there is another searching link to "A shroud, ghostly, Sanforized and unshrinkable".
There is the shadow of death hanging over the ending but what about Macca's Shirt - perhaps it will never fade away!
There is a sense of community in this poem a familiar line or two of that sixties cadence of youth and vitality closing with I suppose a suggestion of age and Britain's current obsession with Old age and pensioners and free transport! Mind your socks and keep the flash shirts sparkling on the bus rides in and out of town - they match Macca's shirt in flashy design!