GREENPEACE SAVES WHITEHAVEN!
Screams the headline of The Times,
A bombardment of chemical waste
And disaster and despair and destruction
From the chemical factory looming over the town.
Flashing warning lights illuminate:
“Rocks as sterile as the moon!”
“Acid rain strips paint off cars!”
Finally, there is hope for the town.
These cars are now being sold to pay for mortgages
on grey clone houses
on grey clone housing estates,
and Asda savers food that tastes
like shame with a numbing aftertaste of fear:
Is this the last proper meal we’ll eat this week?
On the toy that will be a wrenching
disappointment on Christmas Day;
“Why doesn’t Santa love me Daddy?”
Now the bird song is carried over green fields
Where children scream and shout twisting and
winding on stolen broken bikes,
While their parents queue silently at Job Centre Plus
And slump home to drown their wordless screams
in cheap booze they can’t afford.
