Eviction Notice (Poetry)

Right out of the blue
this awful letter
informing us that
we had no option —
we were being moved

Redevelopment —
such a soulless word
for ripping the heart
from community
trashing history

like those grand old streets —
our warm neighbourhood
deemed not worth saving
all the families
were devastated

Protests overruled
we all had to leave
The new estate was
just as expected —
rows of dull boxes

all jammed together
and unwelcoming
There’s a business park
where we used to live —
ugly — half-empty