Marxist. Trade Unionist. Socialist-feminist. Author. Poet. Speaker. Tutor. RMT ex-Exec. Workers' Liberty. Autie. Bi. PUFC fan.
A satirical piece for cat-loving Leonard Cohen fans; rewritten from First We Take Manhattan ...
They sentenced her to living with the humans
She's going to try to rule them from within
She's purring now, she's purring then she'll doom them
- First you let the cat out, then you let her in
Brush off the litter
and kick through the papers
They rush round and flitter
by bricks and skyscrapers
Serve canapés, canopies
crowd out the sunshine
Apartment blocks, apple trees
loud dappled grapevine
Dark undergrowth, underground
misunderstood
You touch in and touch out
on your way through the woods
These are the banks that need to be propped up
These the square miles that could do with some bailing out
This is the high street where floating stocks are mopped up
Defences that fail when they're cut and left flailing about
Those on the ground floor as always will suffer the worst
While one level up they look downwards in trepidation
But those in the penthouse were safe when the banks were burst
Suddenly, a splash
What made water leap from glass?
Well-aimed seagull shit
Swans are 'majestic', the monarch owns them
Geese on the other hand are 'loathsome'.
Geese migrate and know their rights
While swans are English, snooty and white.
Dedicated to Martin Atkins, who asked for a poem in response to this news s-tory.
A poetry book fell through my door
And landed on my mat
I sniffed its arse and wagged my tail
And showed it to the cat
The dog sniffs and circles
carefully selecting
the blade of grass on which to urinate
The bailiff slithers along the street
switching glare from smartphone to door and back
until the numbers match
Whichever blade the streak of piss strikes
its stench spreads rapidly
to its neighbours
Bird sings at midnight
Climate change, light pollution
Or just a daft cock?
May look cuddly but
Harms London says urban fox
Of Boris Johnson
The Queen's horse, Estimate, was stripped of its second place in the 2014 Gold Cup after testing positive for morphine ...