Grant Shapps

He talks and he craps

But often gets confused

About which end he's used

Janine sonnet, Another Country, is included in the anthology Poetry and Settled Status for All, published by Civic Leicester.

It is reviewed in Cambridge University's Varsity.

Invited to an event
to answer a question of importance,
I walked along the street with highness,
went in through the door that revolves,
past the guard of security,
and spoke to the person with femaleness and helpfulness
at the desk of reception.

She doesn't cringe and cower,
she's not a fragile flower
She picked on him and tricked him
She's not a perfect victim

She tells of his coercion,
he tells a different version
How dare she contradict him?
She's not a perfect victim

She unstable, she's a venter,
she's known to lose her temper
She pushed him and she kicked him
She's not a perfect victim

Amplify the voices
that rarely get a hearing
Power up the megaphone
and drown out the jeering

Amplify and magnify
the voices that are hampered by
calcifying attitudes and
patronising platitudes

Amplify the organisers
building solidarity,
alternatives to narratives
of pity and of charity

A poem about this

Nicky from Network Rail
says that to get work and not fail
to make yourself a mint,
not be skint
- come on, take the hint -