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This poem wins the Third Prize in the Martha Robinson Poetry Competition 2006
Some Kind of Way Out
The people who made up the rules
Try hard to make us look like fools
It’s only if we think they’re right
They turn our lives to endless night
The bigwigs do not really care
They need those that they can ensnare
To bolster their authority
Invalidating you and me
The law to them is called the norm
Their guile and fear makes us conform
Their pundits tell us what to think
Exactly how much we should drink
Just what to eat and how to dress
And how we can control out stress
If we don’t stay put in our place
Their henchmen will enter our space
And take us to somewhere where we
Get brutalised until we see
They only way we’re going to leave
Is by pretending to believe
What they themselves know all too well
Are just placating lies they tell
“Cooperate” to us they say
By which they merely mean “Obey”
They corrupt meanings when they speak
They might as well be talking Greek
You can ignore them in your heart
Within you what you need to start
Your life again is always there
Just shun the counsel of despair