• A poem to my wife – with a little help from Lainey Wilson and Dolly Parton.

Inside lane, hitting sixty,

On a moonlit 62.

Been working nine-to-five,

So tired, now I’m

Coming home to you.

You got me high on something,

Feeling fine,

My heart is in a whirl.

You’re my neon diamond,

Sunday best,

Small town, Yorkshire girl.

Got some bell-bottomed country

On my speakers coming through,

My belle’s sweet Southern twang is

Asking What Would Dolly Do?

Tyres slapping out a bluesy beat

On the blacktop that I ride.

Crack the windows,

Listen, sing along,

To the songs you hear inside.

I’ve got my shotgun gals,

Lainey and Doll,

The Rhinestone and The Flare,

On our island in

This stream of cars

Not going anywhere.

Got some bell-bottomed country

On my speakers coming through,

My belle’s sweet Southern twang is

Asking What Would Dolly Do?

62 now lies behind us.

Country roads take me home.

To my Sunday best,

Forever girl,

The reason I don’t roam.

She took my heart

All those years gone by,

Held it safe with hers to grow.

I may be dumb but

I know some things

A man just oughta know.

Got some bell-bottomed country

On my speakers coming through,

My belle’s sweet Southern twang is

Asking What Would Dolly Do?

(M62 Motorway, Westbound. 15.02.2022)