I had my first sticky moment on Saturday Live today. My first poem was rejected with 15 minutes to go before the start of the programme. They’d get sued apparently. And reading back over my poem, I think they’re right:
Five Million
Five million for The Journey
Five million for my stories
Five million for the strategies
That stupefied the Tories.
Five million for D:ream
Five million for the hate
Five million for Iraq
Now, let me get this straight
Five million for the TBGBS
Five million for my zeal
Five million for the Granita
Five million for the deal
Five million for that photograph
So dead behind the eyes
Five million for my memories
Five million for my lies.
So I quickly penned a little tribute Michael Foot instead. Not sure where it is though, so I can’t post it here.
Later, my second effort seemed to go down well
Three Children
At eighteen they were granted liberty
Their names and faces strictly classified
Released into the world but never free
Presented with a new identity
The documents and memories supplied
At eighteen they were granted liberty
But late at night the past won’t let them be
Playing truant under slate grey skies
Released into the world but never free
Though they can walk about like you and me
Blend in on buses wearing suits and ties
At eighteen they were granted liberty
And slipped back into Britain quietly
Haunted by a deadly lullaby
Released into the world but never free
Immortalised in grey CCTV
They led a little boy away to die
At eighteen they were granted liberty
Released into the world but never free.
So farewell then Michael Foot
Though I never knew you
When they wrote that lengthy suicide note
I was barely two
Some say you couldn’t hack it
They cry, “Donkey jacket!”
But for what it’s worth,
I thought you were pretty cool.