Poetry, Decembering, The Key in the Door and other poems

Pub Quiz at the George

In the book, not the film, of Gone with the Wind,

what did Rhett Butler say to Scarlet O’Hara?

‘Frankly, my dear,…

Which five countries have shores on the Red Sea?

Name two Surrealists, the capital of Cyprus, the

lake at the source of the Nile, and what are the

colours of the flag of Morocco?

Frankly, my dear,…

What metal is known by the initials Hg? what is

the lowest score to win a game of tennis, which

famous jazz clarinettist died last year?

What are the colours of the flag of Denmark?

Frankly, my dear…

What are the five disciplines of

the modern pentathlon?

Who invented, who stole, who wrote? and

what are the colours of the flag of Albania?

Frankly, my dear,…

With what is Boyle’s law concerned?

What prize was won by the author of

‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night’?

What are the colours of the flag of Libya?

Frankly, my dear,…

We are pretending we don’t care,

but we do. We challenge a wrong marking

of our card, we quietly whoop when the

answer is, yes, ‘they all resigned their peerage.’

We get in another round.

Our quiz master is growing hoarse in the hubbub.

We ask for hush, we concentrate, we laugh.

We are annoyed when we get one wrong.

We have Steve on our table, thank goodness.

The scores are added. We win the quiz.

Frankly, my dear, we don’t give a damn

about prizes; but the winning?

Now, that’s another matter.