I wrote this at an excellent workshop run by Daljit Nagra as part of the Swindon Festival of Literature. His theme was controversial contexts.

My neighbour speaks in Daily Mail headlines

‘Them addicts choose it don’t they?’

I told him it was a great day

to wash his car

‘We pay them benefits, they buy Heroin!’

I asked what sort

of wax he used

‘And then they take it in prison’

I said I could tell he used

a chamois leather

‘Or we pay for their rehab’

I admired his car but

thought of Carla

‘Don’t give them nothing’

Carla sat next to me

full of smack

‘Let them die’

Carla on Bournemouth beach

cuddling her dead friend

‘Why don’t they understand?’

Carla at home

waiting for Dad’s sweaty palms

‘It makes me mad it does’

I told him, I told him

he’d missed a bit