London: (August,2023) Poem by DM W

These paralysed streets
are no longer paved with gold.
Once there were visions
of freedom and grand designs,
now the stabbing plague
has terminated social
cohesion. It freezes
Beingness in late summer.
Paranoia haunts
repossessed buildings. Spectres
of surveillance seem
distant, yet ubiquitous.
In the sunken eyes
of these junkies and winos,
I sense future shocks
and a thousand warning signs.
Cardboard box city:
no room for all the homeless.
It's too crowded here;
too many going nowhere.
The nation's apple
is now rotten to the core
Better get out of
this place; it is insane.