A Day in the Life
Sophie Fenella

"I read the news today oh boy." To think
of February 13th 2003, teachers held the door as we
marched out the gate, armed with cardboard placards
we marched to Parliament Square, sat in roads,
smiled cheek at policemen, held hands and ran
as if running could move the earth.

I raised my middle finger proudly at Big Ben,
showing off to all my little friends who couldn’t know
everything that really meant. To think I called my Dad,
from Hyde Park Corner’s stage, his heart-clutching laugh
bellowed down the phone.

He did the same of course, in May 1968,
dressed in black beret, implementing Marx, sipping tea
with Lennon – that is the coolest story I have ever known.
"And though the news was rather sad", to think

this day was one of many, when we strutted out of school,
sang garage anthems, "The English Army had just won the war"
blew kisses at hooded boys, cheered each other on
with tongues that loved the river bank for all its musty smells.

I left the crowds of coloured flags, megaphones and all,
I left the rows of policemen shields and walked to Camden Town,
there I sat in some sombre squat, right by the canal
watched the water weep and sigh with all the weight of the sky.

"I read the news today oh boy," in front of some television screen
I hugged my knees searching for Joe, or Aaron, or Hayley
waving stop the war at red brick walls. But all I saw
were upset banks, balaclava kids throwing kicks,
the Prime Minister's absent cry.

The pavement heaved and cracked like a giant fist
rising from the core of the earth, pushing us all away.
I swore I’d never read the news again
but would record, in my own words, every single day.

Sophie Fenella is poet and a performer from London. She is part of the Burn After Reading poetry collective run by Jacob Sam-La Rose, and has performed at festivals and events such as Boom Town, Secret Garden Party, Bang Said the Gun and National Poetry Day Live. Her work has featured in Magma and been commended in the Sentinel Literary Quarterly Competition.

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