POEMS
Please see below for poems by the Branch Poet Laureate, Alison Fell:
Strike or Not
I’m just a normal girl you know
With the usual ambitions and desires
And I live a fairly quiet life
Which I do in Cambridgeshires
I work for my local Council
And I love the work I do
I don’t get very much pay for this
And that sometimes makes me blue
I have never been a rebel
Because I have never found the cause
But when Unison said “enough’s enough”
It made me stop and pause
I listened to all the arguments
Of each and every side
I weighed up all the points they raised
Now was the moment to decide
Do I do the thing I said I never would
Should I now go out on strike
Or do I let them walk all over me
That surely can’t be right
Well me, I like the easy life
I can’t afford to lose the pay
But I don’t like to let my colleagues down
When it comes to action day
And sometimes in life we must take a stand
And make a difficult choice
It is now about time I thought of me
It is time to use my voice
I may be just a normal girl
And confrontation I don’t like
But on November 30th 2011
They’ll find me out on strike
By Ali Fenn
November 2011
Retirement Day
Work for the council I was told,
They will look after you when you get old,
You pay in, and so do they,
And you will be happy on retirement day.
But what I didn’t figure on
Was a coalition government getting it wrong
They want me to pay a whole lot more
But at the end I’ll still be poor
But how can I pay you what you don’t pay me
My money evaporates instantly
No wage increase, surely this can’t be fair
Everything else costs more, I do despair
So maybe I should just give it up
And keep my mouth tightly shut
But if I do I can never moan
About the future that I have sown
Or maybe I should take a stand
Regarding this matter now in hand
I will stamp my feet and I will moan
“Leave my bloody pension well alone”
By Ali Fenn
November 2011
