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Austerity
Becky Cherriman
Hear it scutter
along the guttering of offices,
in the bins behind Waitrose,
the thorned bushes at the playground’s edge –
a language devised by the high-born
to parch the lips of those with less.
Live here too long
and it will shudder down your throat like flu.
You will wake one morning aching with it,
all other tongues you know forgotten –
the vernacular of the workers,
lexicons of children with little,
dialects of kindness,
the diction of being human.
Becky Cherriman is a writer, workshop leader and performer based in Leeds. Published by Mslexia, New Walk, Envoi and Bloodaxe, she was resident poet for Morley Literature Festival in 2013. Her latest collaboration is Haunt, an Imove commission working with people experiencing homelessness in Harrogate. Cinnamon Press are to publish her first poetry collection in 2016. For more info visit: www.beckycherriman.com
Well Versed is edited by Jody Porter – wveditor@gmail.com
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