Donations are essential to keep Write Out Loud going    

Following the Money

entry picture

From the North Sea, wild and grey
the horde bore down on Scarborough Bay.
I overheard one of them say 
"We're following the money."

Like a Viking raiding force
they'd moved their enterprise onshore
to probe beneath the Yorkshire moors
for oil and gas and money.

A mighty fleet of high power cars
overran the Scarborough Spa.
I heard them, wassailing at the bar
thirsty for the money.

Men that work in gas and oil
come to portion up the spoils
of acid streams and toxic soil
poisoned by their money.

Deaf to demonstrators yelping
about the polar ice caps melting
they blindly row towards a healthy
rake-off on their money.

The peaceful villages of Yorkshire
will suffer many years of torture.
Hills will clang with drills like warfare
as they suck the money.

When the homeland is attacked
patriots must rise and act,
resist the marauders, drive them back.
It's people versus money.

Reckless in their haste to burrow
out the filth,  they'll gull tomorrow's
children, trade deep wells of sorrow
for a heap of money,

but when the flow becomes stagnation 
they'll go to pillage other nations,
leave a trail of devastation
following the money.

frackinggasoilclimate changepollutionYorkshireVikingsmoney

◄ A poem for Ashraf Fayadh

Last Night ►

Comments

Profile image

Harry O'Neill

Tue 24th May 2016 11:56

Tim,
Just been through all those lovely and wild Yorkshire wolds and moors. It doesn`t seem safe to leave all those fractures in the rocks beneath them.

I passed the Spar...where UCCAT were having some sort of a union meeting.

It`s good to hear a protest poem with something really solid to test it`s teeth on)

Profile image

Lynn Dye

Sun 15th May 2016 23:11

Brilliant, Tim. Well written and well read, I enjoyed the sentiment too.

Profile image

raypool

Sun 15th May 2016 22:56

I can't fault this Tim. It has as much power as the drills and must follow its natural course. Very clever and well thought out !

Ray

Profile image

Tim Ellis

Sun 15th May 2016 22:16

Thanks Harry & John. More reason to protest now than there ever was in my opinion, Harry! The nearest I'll get to sharing a stage with the Stones, John!

Profile image

John Coopey

Sun 15th May 2016 21:29

Excellent in performance, Tim. The vid showed that.
Incidentally my laptop positioned you vid alongside "Others you might like". It was the Rolling Stones's "Gimme Shelter". You're in good company.

Profile image

Harry O'Neill

Sun 15th May 2016 21:26

Tim,
this caught me as I`m off to Scarborough tomorrow.

Congratulations on a video done in the way(and right tone) that it should be.

I like the way how-in performance-the assonance works with endings to smooth the rhyme in stanza six.

Doesn`t everyone look happy at the end! (oh, for the days of `Maggie! Maggie! Maggie!...out! out! out!)

Profile image

Tim Ellis

Sun 15th May 2016 18:36

This was inspired by an anti-fracking protest I was on in Scarborough last month. I wrote it with a video in mind, which you can watch on https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tA1n6ThVMFM

If you wish to post a comment you must login.

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Find out more Hide this message