Shepton Mallet Prison

 Prison is a prisoner now of the town

It has been snared caught out by time

Kept preserved like a jar for its spirit

Of suffering, for tourists macabre sense

Of right and wrong, mistrusting themselves

Tempting themselves

To touch a darkness, they are afraid, yet thrilled by

Psychodramas played out

Within four walls

But what happened to them?

The ghosts, sure some died there

Were executed

For others it was their home

They did their time moved on

They are outside now

Trusting in the saving power of justice

And the reforming power of incarceration

The negation, the absence of life

Where liberty is a privilege not a right

Where is the prison? The town, the society

In which they do not fit

Are they locked up to keep them away,

Or to keep us away from them?

What is a wall, but an osmotic barrier

Through which they can still see

yet keep the time more preciously

Every hour can seem like a day

To try to make it work, make time pay

Learn a skill, learn to read or write

Learn the value of life

It is a school, in some way the hardest lesson

Was it a blessing?

Was it a fate worse than death?

A social death surely

The comedy of it all

 It could always be worse

That's just the luck of the draw

It's the roll of the hearse

As it pulls up at your door

Ironic of course

But who says comedy is poor

Rich as a beggar in a grave by the shore

Lay me down in the sand

I don't want anymore

I'm too dog tired to stand

And I hurt to my core

Give me a leg up or lend me a hand

I'm run out of egg cups

And my soldier understands

You can't be a saint if you aint

You can't be sinner and live on paint thinner

Just get fat on the wages of a cat

effle tower

 Oh see the rocks from the high ups fall

They've climbed so high above it all

They toss down stones like they're the gods

If the shoe were on the other foot

Would they know how they've been shod?

For do we walk in the shoes we've been given since birth/

Is there only one path to tread on this fine earth?

From cradle to the grave, you must know what life is worth

Don't spare the gravy on the main course

For you may be left with only sloppy seconds

You never know, where your next meal is coming from

And you cannot be complacent without a silver spoon

Though you can try to eat the star dust that falls from the moon

You'll be hungry as well so take a side door out

If you can't win at the system, you must try to shout

And if playing and yelling doesn't get you anywhere

They you better believe you must escape the dragon's lair

Still there is more to it than that

Why deny the obvious fact

That some will follow rule and command

Do the bidding of the high ups

And as in a chain, They will pull themselves up

Hand over hand until they're at the top

And then....

Body lines

 Did you eye it, or did you leg it?

And was it legit, when you elbowed in

You may shoulder the blame

I can't believe you have the gall

To look at me at all

Not with all that spleen of shame

And why did you knee him in the balls

I'm sure it took some of them

Could you not have used your loaf

And headed him instead

It was me who footed the bill Fred

Was it you who fingered me to the cops

Or Pops, were you top of the tree crops

Missing the missiles, miles from home

Homing in like a pigeon, to the only

Loving garden gnome

Who stands awaiting Satan to turn up with Adam's bone

But yes I said to Saddam, it was like a bullet to the brain

Village fete

 You see them at the village fete

So long so long

and old gestate

The blooming maggots of the apple

The grooming faggots in the chapel

The dial up a cele-braty singer

The bells of the church tower ringers

Tiling the bats and cats from hell

Upon the cob webbed windows

Of lives Turned pell-mell

And yellow roll the olives

In the lady's cocktail

As she shakes her maracas

at the sailors who set sail

And cast away the wigs

of the bald and riddled with disease

And try to pull out their thumb

From the plumb of youth with ease

But the dam is always bursting

And the priest is on his knees

And the canal dogs are thirsting

For another lonely tramp to seize

I came and saw the village that seemed

To me such rot

Of all we had before

Of all that once was hot

But now

Cold meat and mutton

Are served upon the plate

And only rabbits made of cotton

Can lift a smile of late

I seem to see the sky fall down

I seem to see the sunset frown

But whether blue or whether brown

I cannot tell, or it is all too late

Anglo traders

 Anglo traders, were they Saxons

Or Viking invaders

Crusaders, or raiders of the loot

This block is sailing out the boot

Car lot, parking lot

Lancelot

Sling shot

David and Goliath dream

Fire starters in the stream

Anglo traders

Whaling cream

Brill it over the oily sheen

Ready with deals

Of the Windows clean,

Smart panel nailers

Hobs and washing machines

Stoves, loaves and everything between

This Harrods of Shepton

Suffers no gleam

It is not lacking in lustre

Nor lusting for a duster

Hustling for a hustler

Busy hustle bustle muscling in

It is a statement surely

Industrial pride

Giant survivor

Of a world left behind

No these Anglo traders will not abide

They may vote for trump

But not for cyanide 

Windows beautiful

Light fantastic

Lager lager

Morris cocks and Clark

Haskins

Giant halls and mirrors

Status of the winners

I wish for a dream

Of Anglo, angles

And English Angels

And heroes of the barrel heart

They had a lot of bottle 

To start

And I have lost more

Than I have gained

As have these angel traders

In their  parade where they reigned

Rings of the waves

 There were heart songs

Singing on the radio

Mulled wine brewing by my elbow

Culled dogs lying in the window

And shores sleeves blended into shadows

There were sick sucks stunning in the Bilbo

Mill streams rubbing on the rainbow

Bring boat burbling in the dingoes

Howling at the heat of the shadows

Stinging in the knees and the Nando's

Trailing on the pea body and the big toes

Shooting Red Indians by the Cowboys

Hollering round the wigwams of Geronimo

Saint Suds with potatoes dud

Fortran  concluded yellows

Shoals of fish in the shallows

Synthesized wishes of the willows