today I was allowed outside

 

they wheeled me out,

the chair and me

pushed through those

pneumatic sliding doors

into the twisted sunshine.

 

          The air wasn’t as sweet

as I’d remembered it

but still I sat there,

 

          every part of me still

Sheltered in the shadows

of the chimney, the incinerator

 

          A towering monolith,

sceptre of the NHS

chugging out black smog

 

          Burning away our hopes

and all my father’s money.