The Food Banks
by Alan Ford / October 4th, 2020
Food Banks are thriving
people queueing for dignity
boxes packed with disbelief
poverty in a packet.
a new poor law
replacing debtors prisons
political prisoners
in public cells.
a monument to memory
recalling the workhouse
pinch-faced days
displaced by stigma.
destitute families
pampered by necessity
fugitives from want
eating mandatory diets.
gourmets of gratitude
swallowing humiliation
like stale crusts
from a deformed banquet.
pride a psychological pain
self-sacrifice needed
compassion in short supply
past its use-by date.
Alan Ford has been writing poetry for about a year and is interested in unusual subjects rather than traditional ones. His work has been published by literary magazines Down in the Dirt, Ariel Chart. Conclave, Blue Lake Review, Academy of the Heart and Mind and Scarlet Leaf Review, and Dissident Voice. His fiction books are The Himmler Contract, The Hitler Affair, The War Criminal, The St George Murders and the satires Nelson Mandela's Ghost and Elvis Presley's Ghost and Princess Diana's Ghost.
Read other articles by Alan.
This article was posted on Sunday, October 4th, 2020 at 8:03am and is filed under Poetry.