“Roll up! Hear the latest reports from our government,”
A homeless man on a park bench gleefully shouts,
“Woman in wheelchair throws shit-socks at parliament!”

“She said it was for the country’s good,
She’d ensured the more decent MPs weren’t about,
Roll up! Hear the latest reports from our government,

“No one believed her; she said she would
Make sure Lammy and Lucas each had nice days out;
Woman in wheelchair throws shit-socks at parliament!

“She did what few really thought she could,
She’d counted all the laws she intended to flout;
Roll up! Hear the latest reports from our government,

“MPs serve us shit like it was food
And nothing we say or do seems to have much clout,
Woman in wheelchair throws shit-socks at parliament!

“Her dream of this suits a public mood,
A dream featuring headlines; a front-page layout;
Roll up! Hear the latest reports from our government;
Woman in wheelchair throws shit-socks at parliament!”

Antonia Sara Zenkevitch

Apologies to anyone who doesn’t like swearing, I felt it appropriate for both alliteration and theme.

The form of this poem is inspired roughly by a villanelle sonnet guide by Sonya Annita Song, whose poem challenges have lately been a source of great entertainment and motivation. I imagine this may be a little on the edge. It’s written from the perspective of a homeless person acting as town crier. I’ve chosen to push the rule that lines don’t have to contain the same number of syllables and to introduce long sentences and near-rhymes, so the sonnet flirts with prose.

The content of this poem is an image that makes me giggle to myself and keeps me smiling when politicians are spouting rubbish. It is, of course, not something I would actually do or recommend anyone else doing.