by Sally Richards
I was watching you
on T.V.
June 2025:
mouth moving
defiant orator;
blank eyes,
not thinking
about consequences;
making sounds
uttering,
defending the indefensible
welfare cuts –
pebble-dash words
creating fear, immobilising.
Did you truly understand
what they
cooked up
in your absence –
double double
toil and trouble’ ing…
fire burning, cauldron bubbling.
I get it,
you have been very busy
on the world stage (I’ll give you that)
meanwhile
they have been busy,
running amok
cooking up potions
to cast
wicked-welfare-spells
on disabled and disadvantaged
fall guys.
All we hear is:
“Got to save money
need to get people back to work”
mewling rhetoric;
most have worked
very hard
all their lives
whenever possible
within their limitations
until forced to stop
by ill health
life events,
trauma.
Do you really understand?
I think not;
trotting out exhausting mantras
echoed by the faithful
when-shall-we-three-meet-again clan,
believing
as if by magic
words become truth.
Suddenly – u-bend u-turn
concessions?
Do you think we are stupid? –
It’s all a mirage
foul-smelling
fog-on-the-heath
camouflage,
sleight of hand
pause-button
distraction
until the wicked web-weaving
begins again;
many face
a looming abyss;
yet more chaotic
madness
in a cruel two-tier (three tier)
system.
This is better?
for some, perhaps,
for now
for others
hell
still awaits
just around the corner.
Sally Richards is one of 28 poets who have contributed to The White Envelope Book –
Poems in Opposition to the Pathways to Work Green Paper
