Elaine Cusack
Take away culture
Your hometown was panini-ed and frappé-ed.
It was mocha-ed, latte-ed, pulled then crafted.
Your birthplace, that square of South East London
you cherished and shared with your family
and friends is gone.
The area’s been knocked down,
updated and gentrified.
This process
is inevitable, unstoppable.
They’re building palaces for Big Business.
Your London’s been gobbled up by Crossrail,
rebuilt by “considerate contractors.”
They’re creating a bespoke capital
for overseas investors with capital.
Revamped London does not belong to you.
The city’s economy and ecosystem are
changing forever
for no good reason.
Elaine Cusack was born on Tyneside in 1970. Her teenage writing was praised and encouraged by Bloodaxe Books and her first pamphlet, Bed and Breakfast with Lydia Lunch was published in 1986 . Since then Elaine's poems have won numerous awards and appeared in various collections as well as on national TV and radio. Her latest book is illustrated poetic memoir, The Princess of Felling. Elaine lives in Whitley Bay and blogs at www.dipdoomagazoo.wordpress.com
Full of English
I’m British and I comfort eat.
I eat because I’m British.
Stiff upper lips crave fish and chips,
kebabs and battered sausage.
Junk food’s the way to cope with life,
it dampens down emotion.
I’m British, I won’t make a fuss.
I’ll never cause a commotion.
I’m British so I comfort eat,
I binge because I’m British.
Uncertainty breeds anxiety
and I need sugar and sausage.
“Media’s to blame,” I crow online,
swallowing whole the Same Old Story.
Bloated, I stagger down high streets
puking England’s ‘Power and Glory.’
I’m British and I comfort eat.
I eat because I’m British.
Stiff upper lips crave fish and chips
and the right to remain English.
thistles stretch their prickly arms afar
thistles stretch their prickly arms afar
Militant Thistles