I can tell you about suicide ideology

From the way I was when I was 16,

Only to then try again when I was 18

Sky high on Acid at an illegal rave

In Hulme on the Racecourse estate.

 

I can tell you about suicide ideology

From reading about Ricky Hatton

And the way he chose to finish it

Refusing to accept what life

Had laid out for him.

 

I can tell you about suicide ideology

From my new book, Threads’

Stood there on a train station

Watching others’ lives fall apart

In front of them on a winter morning,

 

To the middle of the night

When sometimes I wake up

Terrified of the direction of the world

Every time I read about the Ukraine

And Russia, Isarel and Palestine,

 

Trump, Starmer,

The French government

The Manchester Synagogue attack

Rising food prices, bills, strikes

Increasing unemployment,

 

I can tell you about suicide ideology

Whether 16, 18 or approaching 53

When there is no crowd or corner left turn to

And you are just left shadowboxing

in a world you don’t know any longer.

 

 

(In memory of Ricky Hatton)