The Tapeworm
Lisa Hannah

His attitude is a 600-year-old tailcoat
buttoned by a servant. His friends are
a cutlery of silver, cushioned in velvet.
His accent is a crisp meringue, bought
with guineas offshore. His face is a hall
of mirrors, impossibly tall and too wide
to navigate. His arrogance, is a devil
on horseback, leaping the foodbank wall.
His home is a laughter of bedroom tax,
a 100-room colony for phone hackers
and missing girls. His balls are a pair
of truffles sniffed out for Rupert and Rebecca.
His plan for Europe is a life jacket made
of champagne, served to Syrian swimmers.
His constipation? A protest of junior doctors,
56 hours long. His handshake, sometimes
West Ham. Othertimes Aston Villa.

Lisa Hannah has taught in Liverpool for 21 years and promoted the value of poetry through public exhibitions since 1989, when she began to make 3D poems about domestic violence. In 2010 she organised The Alt Project in Prescot Museum, which showcased writing, photographs and memories from people who grew up and worked along the path of the river. And her essay, Throwing Out The Rule Book, appeared in emagazine in 2007, on the issue of poetry as a form of irreverence and rebellion. More of her writing can be found at lisahannah.com

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