Vote Leave campaign bus featuring their slogan "Let's take back control"

Do you remember those wild, out of control, pre-referendum days?

Posted on by Josephine Corcoran

 
Just to say that I’m thrilled that Live Canon decided to film the poems shortlisted in this year’s competition.  Here is the text of my poem, followed by the film.
 
Do you remember those wild, out of control, pre-Referendum days
When learner drivers raced down the hard-shoulder
And horses rampaged in the bus lanes?
And toddlers ran amok in shopping centres –
They were unreined!!
And air traffic control was at breaking point
So the skies teemed with airplanes
And hot air balloons set fire to the tree tops
And crashed into picnics
And you couldn’t see two feet in front of you
For the peasoup of sausage rolls and tartan rugs
And it wasn’t even regulation tartan!!
 
Do you remember our hair was so fly away
It could’ve reached outer space?
And there were no hidden control panels in underwear
And throngs of bra-less women ran on beaches – it was chaos!
And weeds sprouted from pavements
And children swirled in playgrounds like unlicensed fireworks
 
And nobody kept to the menu or the timetable or the order of service
And everyone swam freestyle
And you couldn’t move in the sea for fishing boats and lilos and pedalos
And we needed to take back control.
 
 
And immigrants raced down the hard shoulder
With two council houses each on their backs
And crashed into benefit offices
And never spoke about sausage rolls
(Which made us feel so uncomfortable)
And they set fire to all of the waiting lists
And ran amok through hospitals and schools and workplaces
Stealing our jobs and our beds and our coat pegs
And you couldn’t see two feet in front of you
For the peasoup of immigrants.
 
The queues at the supermarket were at breaking point.
The skies were teeming with immigrants.
You couldn’t move in the sea for immigrants
And immigrants swam freestyle on the beaches
And immigrants sprouted through cracks in the pavement
And you couldn’t walk without stepping on immigrants
 
And nobody kept to the facts or statistics
And everyone kept to the slogans
And the truth was so fly away
And headlines rampaged.

 

And here is my poem Do you remember those wild, out of control, pre-referendum days? performed by actor Nichole Bird:

 

24 thoughts on “Do you remember those wild, out of control, pre-referendum days?”

  6. Do u get replies from this email address Josephine? Just watched your poem re immigrants performed on your blog and it’s so brilliant! X

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

    Liked by 1 person

  8. ‘And immigrants raced down
    The hard shouder
    With two council houses each.
    On their backs.’

    Getting strong echoes of ‘Elizabeth and Leicester beating oars ‘, here.

    Anybody else?

    Liked by 2 people

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