NaPoWriMo 2013 #4

This poem is inspired by a fabulous musician called Avi Adir who I saw performing on the street in Istanbul last October.

SEARCHING FOR A HANG

On the street with the tramway from Taksim Square

It seems there are musicians busking everywhere

Halfway along the rails near the Ada bookshop bar

Fifteen Turkish folk singers sing songs from Ankara

The sweetest song that night came not from any tongue

But from the dulcet fingers of some hippy with his hang

On a carpet covered cushion of yellow blue and green

The hang rested on his knees like an upturned soup tureen

A crowd of people gathered as he wove his rhythmic spell

Each carefully chosen note clearer than a crystal bell

Far far sweeter sounding than any bell that ever rang

Now ever since that night I’ve been searching for a hang

A MEETING OF ENDS

Look around at all the homeless people

Living on the streets,

Sleeping with their friends

At home with mum and dad

Stuck on the social housing list

There is something wrong with this

Look around at all the empty houses

All those foreclosed mortgages

All those empty developments

Waiting for first time buyers

Buyers that simply can’t exist

There is something wrong with this

Homeless people

Peopleless homes?

Homeless people

Peopleless homes?

The bedroom tax puts us all in the frame

The blue and yellow ghouls act in our name

Most people feel there is something wrong

Most people want for us all to belong

The urge to change is coming on strong

If we all say NO it won’t take too long

Everybody has a place in this world

Where their flag can stand unfurled

The rentiers and their developer friends

Choose to determine how we survive

It’s hard to earn no matter how we strive

Yet we all deserve a meeting of ends

Homeless people

Peopleless homes?

Homeless people

Peopleless homes?

Something is seriously wrong with this

Let’s all bring about a meeting of ends