Formal poetry

Grant Shapps

He talks and he craps

But often gets confused

About which end he's used

• after Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

A golden shovel based on the final stanza of The Mask of Anarchy by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

They hold us down but still we rise,
deference dies, we bite them down to size. Like
Jayaben roars, we are the lions,
Mr Manager, you'll do no more damage after
we've dealt with you. Stretching from slumber,

Flexing our muscle, exercising our minds, in
readiness for when they find that they are not unvanquishable
as they thought. They bought power but we have number.

Owen Patterson

takes envelopes with splatters on

One hundred grand and he'll do your bidding

Fit for public office? You've got to be kidding.

Be streetwise, girls, be streetwise
and you won't get false-arrested
Look out for cuffs and meat knives
Be streetwise, girls, be streetwise
and memorise our treatise
on what to do when pestered
Be streetwise, girls, be streetwise
and you won't be false-arrested

- a villanelle about this.

Kids needed somewhere safe to swim
so locals raised funds for a pool,
got sponsor forms and filled them in

Again they shook donation tins
to keep aquatics at the school,
to keep the children safe to swim

after Eventide by the Faith Brothers

At the first opportunity, I dropped history -
lists of dates of kings, queens and gilded greats, handed
out from books by teachers who looked just as down
about it as we felt. It spelt boredom. But I like
it now. Dig, and history is more broad and big
than that. Now I seek out my sisters' and brothers'
stories, walk their streets and wear their clothes

- a golden shovel after 'Scarlet Ribbons', for Cush

At the peal of the bell, they don’t tell you there’s
a field that not everyone comes back from. The survivor’s been
fearing that he’ll never stop hearing the gunfire
even when the bunfight has stopped. And there’s
a sight you don’t come back from. He’s been
seeing his mate in pieces and only the drinking
At the peal of the bell, they don’t tell you there’s
a field that not everyone comes back from. The survivor’s been
fearing that he’ll never stop hearing the gunfire
even when the bunfight has stopped. And there’s
a sight you don’t come back from. He’s been
seeing his mate in pieces and only the drinking

Day 1 confined to room - no going out

Day 2 do push-ups, Netflix, clean the floor

Day 3 phone friends and scrub the tiling grout

Day 4 a breakfast bag outside the door

Day 5 phone friends and tell them how I'm feeling

Day 6 lean out the window for some air

Day 7 sit-ups, Netflix, clean the ceiling

Day 8 phone friends to tell them I still care