My protest hat is firmly on here. During a Poetry School workshop http://www.poetryschool.com/courses-workshops/face-to-face/sound---fury--writing-the-poetry-of-protest.php last Saturday on writing protest poetry the first draft of a poem emerged and an improved version is now offered up, after some re-drafting.
This is the second time I've been to a workshop with the poet Antony Dunn http://www.antonydunn.org/ Once again he gave us with plenty to think about and pursue independently.
Redefinition
“Welfare minister argues in favour of a redefinition of ‘homelessness’” Guardian 4th November 2010, Patrick Wintour
and with thanks to George Orwell who explained that politicians “ make lies sound truthful” in "Politics and the English Language" (1946)
You’ve got the wrong end of the stick
Your mind is in an awful mess
We need a redefinition of homelessness
Really it means happiness.
You’ve got the wrong end of the stick
What you think is pure manure
There’s no such thing as being poor
In fact, it’s now against the law.
You’ve got the wrong end of the stick
Health, councils, charities, schools
means ‘localism’ rules
(Equality is just for fools)
You’ve got the wrong end of the stick
Dave tells us with great certainty
Unemployment is a big fat lie
What we really mean is the Big Society.
You’ve got the wrong end of the stick
The IFS* are too excessive
These taxes are not so regressive
The benefits to all are massive.
It’s a fact, no ifs and buts
Extra money’s there, not cuts.
You’re living in a Wonderland …
wondering, wondering
which words will next be banned.
*IFS = Institute for Fiscal Studies, who found that the Comprehensive Spending Review was a regressive measure, contrary to Nick Clegg’s assertion.
Moira Garland
