Try mph
To Payney, Tinpan, JJ, Tom P., Tom C., Col, Ry, Peewee
I know the car I would most love to own:
Well red, early seventies TR6,
That beautiful, British-built, roadster mix,
Boldly bearing the boxed badge of renown –
Great jewel in Triumph’s commercial crown –
Two point five litre, manual, straight-six,
Mint restored, flying new like a phoenix,
To be roared, roof down, roared round my home town.
Not for the dropping into overdrive –
Instrumentation alive on the dash –
Nor for near-by-gone auto heritage.
More for the pace and the raw expressive
Chase and catching of oneself off guard – Flash! –
Much unfussed by life’s high, rising mileage.
Paul Curran was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1975. He holds a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford and a Masters Degree from the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. He has worked widely as a professional actor. His Only Sonnet loosely follows the pattern of the seasons, comprised of 100+ ‘alternative’ sonnets; Repeat Fees and its 80 sonnets and longer poems was published in July 2017.