Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

Had you money enough and time,
This bluntness, Man, would be no crime.
We would sit down, and talk of cost
Before the afternoon was lost.
You by the run on Market Stock
Should profits find: I in the dock
Of court would complain. Never brash
Loved you ten days before The Crash:
And you must, if you please, refuse
Till Marketeers meet their dues.
My huge financial love should last
Vaster than accounts, much more fast.
One hundred pounds should go to start
The bid to try to book this tart;
Another fifty for whip and chain;
And fifty more all night remain:
Hour at least to every kink,
The last hour you must not shrink.
For Man, you do deserve this state;
Nor would I charge at lower rate.
But downstairs a customer calls
Can hear his cries throughout these walls;
For now there is so little time
Peaks gone, you are past your prime.
Your looks shall no more be found,
Nor in your stiff men's club shall sound
My payment claims; then debtors try
That financial stability:
And your proud honour turn to ruin,
Computer watched, by many viewing.
The bankrupt list has many names,
Of people who have played my games.
  Now put forward your urgent claim
  Proudly stand and look at this dame,
And while your eager passion fires
From those loins before it tires,
Let us stop and discuss the pay:
Costs, conditions, before we lay,
Rather at once we must settle,
Before we lose all that mettle.
  Let us strike the impatience down
And cast aside the worried frown,
Tip out your wallet, notes and all,
Enjoy yourself before the fall.
For politician you are done
Outside, cameras and The Sun.