Bradford Middleton- Three Poems

WORLD WITHOUT MONEY

I want a world without money

Where everyone is equal to one another

And no one is hoisted on a pedestal

Just because of their job

All food should be free

As should booze and anything else

Because if it weren’t a status

Hardly anything would be needed

For me, well all I need is a roof over my head

Some food in my stomach and booze to addle my mind

I don’t need any widescreen TV

To make me feel important

As I’ve got a mind that is free to wander

Outside of the normal

Away from the desire to fit in

Remaining calm in the face of consumerist desires

Telling me what they think I need

When all I want is for everything to be free

For people to forget about dream lifestyles

And to just be real to who they really are.

FREEZING IN THE SUMMER

Football on the radio again

With the laptop keeping me warm again

This is life in the last resort

As my heater lies prone on my room’s floor

Allowing me to freeze despite it still being only August

If it’s like this now who knows what the winter may bring

When the real cold weather kicks in

Leaving me worried for my life

With my laptop the only thing keeping me warm

Life here really stinks but there ain’t anywhere else I can go

Not now, not in this town

With property prices rising and the benefits being cut-back

There ain’t nothing left to do but sit and grimace

Hoping that someday something better will happen

But if, or even when, this could happen I’ve no idea

As the jobs have dried up and all the others pay nothing like enough

Minimum wage leaves me stuck with nothing to spare

And no place left to go unless I can make a big change

But what will that be and where will it take me

I don’t know, I just wish it would hurry up and get here!

GEEZER SHOPLIFTER

“Hey sweets! I’m just going in here to steal my lunch, I’ll see you on the corner”

These are the words I hear from outside before

I catch a look at him I take a step-back knowing it best to just hope he don’t try and steal any fags or booze

A beast of a man with a dog that weren’t much smaller

Fortunately he only took a couple of cheap sandwiches and fled

Before my boss made it to the shop floor

After I’d called for his help