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Poem for the Pavement

March 01 2020

This poem was written specially for the Pavement by the Neanderthal Bard – who has the best pen name for a poet ever. He’s also Crisis’s poet in residence. Can you use your experiences to write poetry and songs?

I have stayed in that hostel, and had my shoes nicked off my feet.
Felt safer alone, and more secure on these streets.
When we bundle the vulnerable together, predators will appear.
Taking from those with nothing, governing with nothing but fear.

I have shared a tent with a dead friend left next to me, 
No answer in the morning when offered hot tea.
What's scary is it didn't scare me a bit, no heat or beat from his heart.
What's scarier still is he's not the first, probably won't be the last.
I screamed all my sorrys at cold concrete walls,
Squatted alone in a mansion but own nothing at all.
I was a danger to me, I was not born to last,
My future was decided by having a past.
I lived in an empty penthouse, squatted in boarded up pubs.
Forgotten all of my nightmares by using Spice, Beer, and Bud.
When moving on was never moving up.
Then I found love.

Now I live with my wife, been gifted with 2 boys and 1 girl,
I will never forget my life on these streets, or the hurt served up by the world.
I will never forget, I will teach my children to see,
That hostel on the corner used to house me.
I was a beggar, a chancer I was a shoplifting thief,
I was so many things, never again set free.
He is gone but not forgotten, my love keeps me strong, 
I learned from my family, this is where I belong.

  • Enjoy more @neanderthalbard poems on insta.
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April – May 2024 : Compassion

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