A WASTING SONG

for DB

Travelling east
from Westminster
on the Jubilee line,
you lose one year
off your life
for each stop
you don't get off at.

Ulcers on the feet which go untreated.
Violence from passers by.
Unable to wash or shower on your period.
Being discharged from prison to the streets.
Exhaustion from walking around at night.
Being scared.

Westminster
Waterloo
Southwark
London Bridge

People are quick
to tell you to pick
yourself up.
Premature death.

Bermondsey

I shoplift for basics —
milk and bread.
People in their dressing gowns
at 3.30 in the afternoon.
Depression.
Black moods.
I live like I'm in prison.

Britain's big freeze.
The brutal Arctic blast.
A biting wind.
5000 deaths in a long, dead winter.

Canada Water
Canary Wharf

Oil and tar.

The body was still
in a bag at the scene
guarded by police
five hours after
it was dragged from the river.

A second body was recovered
by RNLI 
at 8.08 a.m.

North Greenwich
Canning Town
West Ham
Stratford

Something going down in #Westfield,
Popo and cordens.
Somebody got themselves stabbed in #Westfield.
Can't even get to Nando's.

RIP the young man
who got stabbed
to death today
in Stratford #Westfield.

It's a
sad
world
we live