Four Lines That Rhyme

To see the roots of poverty

the plight of the have-nots

Don't look at little dinghies

but at massive super-yachts

Why should I give the time of day

to folk who take their ball away

Especially if that taken ball

is punctured, flat and very small?

Action seen in Bristol
Is truly unforgettable
Poor old Slaver Colston
No longer on his pedestal

Colston was a slaver,
A taker not a giver
Protesters did a favour
Now Colston's in the river

We can't go to the boozer
We can't go to the barber
But we can tear that slaver down
And chuck him in the harbour

Maybe Cummings hadn't heard
Immunity is just a word
Now Dominic is feeling rough
He didn't run quite fast enough

When I was young and full of rage
I hated Tories to my core.
But now I've reached a gentler age
I hate the fuckers even more.

He blew his whistle, Tory Zac
The dogs came running in a pack
Instead of slavering at his whim
They growled and barked and savaged him

David says if folk don't speak the language
They have to leave the country - go and pack!
But how's he going to deal with all the anguish
Of monolingual ex-pats flooding back?

Respect for war dead is not proved
By the depth of bow you're showing
But by the mountains you have moved
To stop their numbers growing.

​This poem was included in the anthology Poems for Jeremy Corbyn (Shoestring Press, 2016)
​and published by the Daily Mirror in September 2016.

I'm sure it really is a pain
Waiting ages for a train
But if you want a true ordeal
Ask the "migrants" how they feel

I tried to explain to a ten-year-old tyke
Why we bother with spelling and grammar
You can knock in a nail with your shoe if you like
But you’re better off using a hammer