The Power of Poetry

I racked my brain, words never came, 

I shook my head, I thought the same, 

I believed I spoke what they call a good game,

The game of poetry.

I thought I was a rebel poet, 

Rambling, rhyming, sheep and goats, 

Kept my poetry boat afloat, 

The boat of poetry.

I marched with unions, carried flags, 

Drank the lager, smoked the fags, 

Talked the poetry with Billy Bragg, 

Talking of poetry.

My political words, they never went far, 

No sloganeering like on Guthrie's guitar, *

I was no great political poetry star.

The message of poetry.

At the end of the day, I wrote for peace, 

For those imprisoned to be released, 

For trouble in the world to cease, 

The power of poetry.

Kick down the walls of prejudice,

Kick down the doors and words with 'isms',

See the world through a positive prism, 

The power of poetry.

* This references folk /protest singer Woody Guthrie (1912-1967).