A Middle-Lands Hero
(Adrian Mole at 50)
Baffled at the lack of recognition
adrift in mediocrity,
yet surviving, you were the boy
with concrete feet and loft ambitions
in an intellectual love affair
with dynamic Pandora. Your success
fueled by a bookish misfit who blessed
you as hero and someone who might care.
Until they re-read your diary,
now themselves nearing middle-age,
and fell in love with your author’s sage
incisive satire and comedy.
Use of Midlanders to portray
you on stage meant critics underrated
her plays. You’d’ve loved and curated
your party at Leicester University.
The Kindling 