From Let them eat chaos - Kate Tempest

The squats we used to party in

are flats we can’t afford

The dumps we did our dancing in

have all been restored

Pints are up two quid

the staff are beautiful and bored

You think it’s coming round here?

It’s falling on its sword.

It don’t feel like home no more

I don’t speak the lingo.

Since when was this a winery?

It used to be the bingo.

I’ve walked these streets for all my life

they know me like no other.

But the streets have changed.

I no longer feel them

shudder

Alright alright, I get the gist.

Whose city is this?

It doesn’t want me no more.

I’ve had a glimpse

into the future.

It stinks.

London’s a walled fort,

it’s all for the rich,

if you fall short

you fall.

You know where the door is.

Board up the broken,

do it up,

sell it back

make it bespoke.

It’s all out in the open.

It’s fine, man,

hike the price right up

and smile with your friends

in the posh new nightclubs.

My streets have been dug up.

Re-paved.

New routes for commuters.

The landscape has changed

I’m looking for the old tags,

the graffs that once meant

safe territory

but it seems

every hieroglyph gets whitewashed

eventually.

Kate Tempest. Let them eat chaos. Picador, 2016.