Fluff and puff,
water plugs,
power plants,
paper over eyesores,
paint it matte,
pink as salmon,
pack the homeless
into the Bird's Nest,
ghettoise Moses,
bleed the Amazon
down to size,
moor the battleships
to Yamuna Bank,
let white elephants
run riot on warm Black ice
over those who won't
play ball in our
electric garden
free your head
from the rails
for what?
roti kapda makaan
or BSP ki maya?
be buried or a sport
let laal battis through
ab bus, stop
blaming it on Rio
don't you know
how India shone
in October 2010,
or that Russians love
their children too?
So what if they don't
believe in modern love?
Potemkin villages are
built brick by brick
by BRICS,
Red, Yellow, Orange
kilned to Black.

A state of constant crisis breaks a population’s will subtly
Disguise the stick as carrot, slight of hand, and divide a family
Two week’s wait for a Doctor’s appointment, then reduced aftercare
Reclassify the frail and disabled, let them crawl up the stair

When did we begin to learn to live with this?
Constant erosion of community
When did we begin to learn to live with this?
Self serving irresponsibility

Architectural vandalism, tax donation, and PPE scams
Our essential services’ heedlessly squandered into, private hands
Capitalism, untethered, unrestrained, propelled by gluttonous greed
Divide and conquer the mass, ghettoise, by gender, colour or creed

When did we begin to learn to live with this?
Zero hours’ as a working week
When did we begin to learn to live with this?
I’m alright Jack, and a callous streak

Get up, and get out from under
Get up, and get out from under

Pre-pubescent’s in gang’s, armed with knives, who can barely write or read
Betrayed by cuts and shifting targets, education as commodity
Examples of moral and social discipline, are scarce, or weakly implied
Meanwhile my local chip shop’s open longer hour’s than my local pigsty

When did we begin to learn to live with this?
Youth on youth stabbings’ newspaper front page
When did we begin to learn to live with this?
Volunteer labour and minimum wage

Get up, and get out from under
Get up, and get out from under
Get up, and get out from under
GET UP AND GET OUT FROM UNDER