Bradford Middleton- Two Poems

LOOKING FOR A NEW PLACE

This last couple of months I’ve been looking

Looking for a new place to call home

A home I won’t freeze in during winter

A place I can hopefully get some sleep in the summer

Cos it’s nearly five years in here on the cost

And the only thing I’ll miss is my view

I’ve been looking, hoping to find somewhere else

Better and more comfortable than now so

I naturally decided to look at places that cost

A little bit more than now; I don’t care as I don’t

Pay most of it.  But some of these places...

I’ve lived in some hovels; a lot of people would argue

I still do now but some of these places

A kitchenette that is a portable two-hob plugged into the wall

A ceiling so low I could barely stretch

Lucky 13 or so I joked to the agent who spent

Ten whole minutes to get the key to work

The anticipation grew as I sneaked a peak

A glorious bathroom but shared with eight and right next door

Then the entrance, the grand finale, and holy shit

The first question I ask is how much? I almost laugh

When he tells me but part of me simply wants to throttle him

It’s so bad I might as well just turn away.

BREAKFAST ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Waking to eat breakfast, hung-over, desperate for sustenance

And all you find in the cupboard is nothing

It was pay-day on Thursday and it seems I forgot to shop

So no food means breakfast will mean tea and a joint

After a couple of hours getting high on caffeine and weed

It’s time to go out, meet some friends who are visiting for the day

Within five minutes of meeting we’re in a pub

A pint one of them asks me?  Well, what do you think I say!

Within an hour I’ve knocked back three and feel dizzy, confused

Put simply I’m a mess.  Then we finally get to leave and at last

Breakfast, a huge fry-up of greasy hot vegetables can be had

Two o’clock Saturday afternoon and at last it is breakfast time just in time to help sober me up.