Wish you were here
We were born in the countryside between
The docks and the land,
Land of the great of course!
With technological advances of the century
Where the line wasn’t drawn on screens
The domestically abused
Became abusers.
Drug induced mothers -
And Daughters,
Were born to violence,
And withdrawing
From withdrawal syndrome.
In streets brimming with poverty
Working people were viewed
Working other people on corners.
Try living
In the age of aids and Freddy Mercury
With statistics of dole dossers spread over
Placards costing more than a weekly salary.
Darkness filled the nights til
Screeches of blue convoys appeared,
Extinguishing the thriving flames of orange
Unlike the non thriving children of the year,
Who were lost in splattered dots of estates
On unpublished maps, in council flats
Threatened with eviction and
Stuffed deep with depression and
Eating away the dangers in the form of cheap
Beans and sausages and chips cooked in dirty oil pans,
Breathing sighs of relief while
Signing empty postcards declaring
‘We wish you were here!’
Quietly Muttering,
‘It’s a lovely place really!’
