Twenty Seventeen Poem by jim hogg

The drawbridge raised, the curfew sounds
And cops with tasers do the rounds
Those nineteen sixties dreams of peace
So quickly turned to disbelief

And automation, we supposed,
Bring leisure like we'd never known
it's what the teachers told us when
Both you and I were only ten

And there's no hope, no justice here,
Just insecurity and fear
It helps to keep us cheap and weak
If we're just one week from the street

Your letters say you miss me dear
You haven't seen me for a year
And I would hold you if I could
But now it's down to love or food

It's back to basics as advised
To keep the rich quite satisfied
So there's no telly in this room
And no hot water coming soon

And there's no phone, no internet
On Universal Benefit
the great and good have everything
But who knows what tomorrow brings

I'm learning how to know my place
I'll soon have my certificate
To show that I'm a minion in
The parroting of rich folk's myths

The drawbridge raised, the curfew sounds
And cops with tasers do the rounds
I think of all we once believed
When you and I were seventeen

For there's no hope, no justice here,
Just insecurity and fear
It helps to keep us cheap and meek
If we're just one week from the street


September 2012