‘Poetry won’t pay the bills’
When the bank told me,
Just what I owe ‘em,
I wrote on their invoice,
‘Wilfred Owen’.
and on my bills, I jotted;
‘Shelley, Elliot, Poe and Yeats.’
On the leccy; ‘Whitman’,
On the gas bill; ‘Blake.’
A haiku on the rent.
and some Frost on the heat.
HMRC won’t love
The sonnet on my tax sheet.
Poetry won’t pay the bills;
A truth that just be might.
but nor do the billionaires;
and they seem to be alright,
A response to being told that my poetry won’t pay the bills.