What Sickness is This?

Cracking, crumbling, concrete facades,
ugly fissures in town-centre tarmac;
stress fractures in a nation’s psyche.

Demoralised roads full of discarded dreams,
the surfaces cleansed by a shower of rain,
remain indelibly riven with poverty and pain.

Political power promoting delusional growth
through fracking fields and offshore deals,
and empty promises of better to come.

Unrest, discontent, demoralised staff.
Healthcare strains. Striking trains.
But handouts for the rich.

What sickness is this?

Henry is a poet, writer and mental health essayist based in Somerset in the UK. His work has appeared previously in Dissident Voice. Read other articles by Henry.