Your Money or Your Life

Your Money or Your Life

An NHS patient suffered one day,

A coronary, and whilst he survived,

His heart was now in a very bad way,

According to the letter, which arrived

After three months, telling him he needed

A bypass, else he’d be dead within six;

And yet, no matter how much he pleaded,

He was told that the surgeon couldn’t fix

A date inside of a year, maybe more;

Hence, consequently, he was forced to take

Out a loan, (which left him decidedly poor),

In order to save his wife from heartbreak,

And transfer a woefully large amount,

Across to the surgeon's private account.

 

EDL March (2015)

EDL March (2015)

In Castle Park, one Saturday,

Out wandering about,

I noticed banners on display,

And heard some voices shout:

“RACIST FACIST NAZI SCUM!

BRAINWASHED RIGHT-WING SHEEP!”

And wondering, who, why, what, how come,

I went and had a peep.

I saw there, gathered on the green,

Nearby the swings and slides,

Two mobs, with coppers in between,

But no kids on the rides.

Consumed by curiosity,

Concerning the affair,

I asked a WPC,

What’s going on down there?

She said the EDL was here,

On a demonstration,

And warned me not to go too near,

In case of aggravation.

I met my wife for a coffee/tea

And heated-up cheese scone,

Wandered off to HMV,

And heading home alone,

I came across the EDL,

Marching through the town;

Hence, minded of the nasty smell,

That comes off something brown,

I stood and watched ‘em passing through,

Waving banners, proudly;

Escorted by the boys in blue,

And chanting very loudly:

“I KNOW I AM I'M SURE I AM,

I’M ENGLISH TILL I DIE!”

But getting with their program,

Didn't gel with such as I,

Nor “WHO THE FUCK IS ALLAH?”

Which garnered no reply,

From a Middle-Eastern fella,

With his family, passing by.

I walked apace down East Hill,

Back past Castle Park;

ANTIFA, gathered there still,

Let rip the odd remark,

In the enemy’s direction,

As the EDL procession,

With matching police protection,

Replied with like aggression.

Finally, I was parallel

With a hardy, canine scrapper;

A staffie, from what I could tell,

That looked to be their gaffer,

Ambling at the march’s head,

With dignified restraint;

Draped, in the white and red,

Of George, our patron saint.

Suddenly, I tripped and fell,

With little or no resistance;

A PC asked if all was well,

In offer of assistance,

I told him I was fine thanks;

I’d lost my concentration,

Staring at the mindless ranks

Of haters in formation.

Although, in truth, I never said

Those valid words out loud;

ANTIFA said it all instead;

That far too small a crowd,

Could see an infection spreading,

Inasmuch as, since that day,

We’re evidently heading

Evermore the far-right way.

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The Benefit of Hindsight

The Benefit of Hindsight

In ’84, during the miner’s strike,

A crowd of Kent miners came to our town,

And I met a man who took a dislike

To yours truly, upon me sitting down

At his table, as men of militant renown,

Mingled with locals, supporting their fight,

In the Labour club bar, one Friday night.

The Kent miners, as I recall, were here

All week, fly- picketing the docks by day

And nightly partaking of the cheap beer,

Soft beverages, and food; not to say

Free lodging on the clubroom floor, on which they

Slept, courtesy of the club committee,

Long since disbanded and more’s the pity.

I sat next to Tanya (not her real name),

A girlfriend of sorts; she’d told me about

“These miners” she’d drunk with, when they first came

To town, two nights ago; she being out

With a friend; and I seriously doubt

The two miners had considered she might

Have a boyfriend, let alone invite

Him along to a follow-up meeting;

In any case, their feelings toward me

-Given the cold and indifferent greeting,

Consisting of a handshake, half-heartedly

Proffered by a bearded man, who had to be

At least forty; and the look of disdain

On his burly mate’s face- seemed pretty plain.

The bearded man alerted my alarm,

Having evidently taken offence

At me kissing Tanya and putting an arm

Around her, awkwardly and with a sense

Of self-consciousness, very intense:

“We’ve had to leave our wives at home” he said,

And his mate glared, as if wishing me dead.

The bearded man then patiently suggested

I remove my arm, in view of his frustrated

Fellows; and I complied, as requested,

But his mate appeared still aggravated;

Maintaining, as it were, a look of hatred,

Simmering with psychotic intention,

As the bearded man, put to me a question:

“So what’s your politics then?” he enquired,

And I naively, politely, replied;

“I haven’t got any”, which got him all fired-

-Up; even more so when I further implied

That MPs are all the same, whatever side

They claim to be on, and as for ourselves;

Most people are mainly out for themselves!

“What do you mean?” yelled his furious mate,

As he flicked a match that landed on my top

And burnt it: an undeniably straight-

-Up challenge, which I chose to drop;

Disregarding his impertinent pop,

In consideration of his largeness,

Which I judged to be twice mine, more or less.

There followed a condescending address,

Giving by the bearded man, concerning

The sense of political awareness

I apparently lacked, for want of learning;

In a patronisingly faux-discerning

Manner, he said we need to care for each other,

Like he was some kind of wise big brother,

But he was obviously taking the piss,

And all I could do was pretend to listen;

Nodding, as he lectured on about this

And that, like a preacher on a mission,

Or more like a man in a position

Of power over a rabbit or deer,

Caught in the lights of a van in top gear.

“ARTHUR SCARGILL, ARTHUR SCARGILL,

WE’LL SUPPORT YOU EVERMORE,

WE’LL SUPPORT YOU EVERMORE”

Rang out, as the burly miner laid his paw

On Tanya; all but embracing her; and what’s more;

Tanya didn’t mind! Least not from what I saw,

Watching her face drawn toward the last straw,

i.e. a snog or maybe merely a quick kiss

Goodbye, which either way, was very much remiss

To my jealous mind; I reflexively

Leapt out of my chair, in the interests of pride,

And my rival responded aggressively:

“YEAH COME ON THEN YOU LITTLE CUNT” he cried,

And, to be honest, I’d have probably died

If his mate hadn’t grabbed me by the scruff

And told me that I wasn’t “Man enough”,

All the while keeping the pair of us apart;

I heard Tanya shouting “Come on, let’s go!”

And the next thing I knew, she’d made a smart

Exit; heading home, with yours truly in tow;

And what followed, no one else needs to know;

Suffice to say, a short while later, I

Was chucked, in favour of a manlier guy.

(Funny thing: not long after the event,

I saw the bearded man on my TV;

Him being the shop-steward of the Kent

Miners, and there he was, on the BBC

News; and his first name turned out to be,

Pat; a worthy anecdote, if not a claim

To fame; if I only knew his surname.)

***

The other morning, whilst out dog walking,

I was thinking out loud, as I often do,

Presently, imaginatively talking

To the bearded man and his colleague too,

And when he asked for my political view,

I answered, armed with forty plus years’ worth

Of knowledge; “I’m sorry but how on earth

Is that relevant?” tantalisingly

Leaving him hanging, before I told

Him I was very left wing; and thus he

Adopted a noticeably less cold

Demeanour toward my twenty two year old

Self; with a show of reluctant respect,

Upon receiving further pause to reflect

On my insightful opinions…

But then;

Pondering the benefit of hindsight:

If I had my time all over again

And took up the chance of making things right,

I’d most likely run out of poems to write;

Hence, on second thoughts; I left my young self

To figure things out from his place, on the shelf.

All reactions:

10Nicola, Norma and 8 others

Beware of the Blob

Beware of the Blob

Beware of the blob

Cried a billionaire nob

With plots in exotic locations

To the downtrodden folk

Tired debt-ridden broke

Who work in the giant corporations

Watch out for the woke

Said a toffee-nosed bloke

With no self-awareness or shame

To the classes beneath

Pulling out their own teeth

For want of a private health claim

Renounce the left wing

Blared the barons whose thing

Is to broadcast the gospel of greed

Belittle the state

Make bigots look great

And brainwash the populace indeed

The lefty woke blob

Hence out of a job

All thanks to the devious doings

Of nobs blokes barons

And corporate dragons

Great Britain’s now mostly in ruins

Flagshaggers

Flagshaggers

Patriotic pissed and proud

Angry loud flag waving crowd

Knuckle-dragging bric-a-bracs

Brainwashed fodder for right wing hacks

Flagshaggers

Watching GB News all day

Flagshaggers

Voting for Reform UK

Flagshaggers

Floundering NHS

Struggling councils funded ever less

Anderson ex Tory MP

Made a meal for 30p

Propagated racist spite

Joined a party further right

Once he was a northern red

Thatcher changed his mind he said

Never mind the mess she made

Now it’s like he’s on crusade

Flagshaggers

Perpetuating lies

Flagshaggers

Everything’s privatised

Flagshaggers

The public purse is spent

Pensioners working can’t afford the rent

Statues war memorials

Deemed worth more than hospitals

Peaceful people demonstrate

March for ceasefires hope not hate

Now the opposite’s implied

By the press they’re vilified

Football hooligans insist

Britain needs a populist

Flagshaggers

Ultra-Tory tools

Flagshaggers

From underfunded schools

Flagshaggers

Don’t know George’s story

Nor the words of Land Hope and Glory

Flagshaggers

Deify Enoch Powell

Flagshaggers

Subscribe to The Daily Mail

Flagshaggers

Conservative blaggers

Voted into power by knuckle draggers

Flagshaggers

Sparrow

Sparrow

At A&E in hospital

I saw a sparrow skeletal

Very young and very wrecked

Having his blood pressure checked

Nearby in another bay

His mate a scrawny pigeon lay

Waiting on a wooden frame

Asking after wotsisname

Old bill blue were standing by

Guarding lest the sparrow fly

The sparrow put his hoody on

The pigeon sent a text anon

A porter with a trolley called

To wheel the sparrow to the ward

The pigeon rose and all withdrew

Escorted by the old bill blue

The Evangelists

   The Evangelists

Ladies gentlemen lads and lasses

Congregate at MAGA masses

Evangelical Trump appeasers

Love him more than they love Jesus

Christ they tend to overlook

Cherry picking from the book

Made it more a self-deceiver’s

Testament for faux believers

They are contradictorily

Pro-life pro death penalty

Pro the right to buy from dealers

Guns with automatic feeders

Anti-gay and anti-trans

Pro free-speech yet call for bans

On courses taught by dyed-haired divas

Loathed by billionaire achievers

Also gathered here today

Neo-Nazis KKK

QAnon conspiracy heeders

Climate sceptic methane breeders

They’re surrounded by a clique

That never turns the other cheek

Proud supremacist straight white geezers

Standby troops for power seizures

All when Donald Trump appears

Give rapturous applause and cheers

Fit for conquerors emperors Caesars

Miracle makers saints redeemers

If today our saviour came

I doubt he’d meet with more acclaim

Evangelical Trump appeasers

Love him more than they love Jesus

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