approximate reading time: minutes
Wayne Dean-Richards has shared 18 poems for us to publish during the tail end of the winter and on into summer. The collection is called It's a Mad World, But Funny. Eventually there will be a free, downloadable PDF of all the poems and a planned A6 compendium too. (Links to all of the poems way down the page⇓).
lanyard life
we sit on rows of plastic chairs,
some suspiciously red, some yellow,
a few calmingly green.
once we’re seated, we’re inspected
to see that our lanyards are on straight.
are reprimanded if they appear to be
a hairsbreadth from what’s requisite.
each week there are new targets.
if we meet the old targets there are new targets
if we fail the old targets there are new targets
each week there are new targets.
wearing a lanyard is always a target.
during a break I whisper to the newbies:
“to survive you must master the art
of eating shit
whilst laughing on the inside…
“…oh, and don’t forget to breathe...”
Essential Info
The 18 poems comprising Wayne Dean-Richards' IT'S A MAD WORLD BUT FUNNY series are listed below. Outsideleft will be publishing them all throughout the spring and summer of 2023. A free downloadable PDF and a limited edition A6 Outsideleft Booklet (for neither profit or loss) of these poems will be available at the end. But not till the end. I think that means mid-September.
