The Other Inmates (Poetry)

Dubbed ‘No Hope Hotel’
they joked about how
the rising damp met
sheer desperation
trapped in the attic

Bedsitters from Hell
haunted the bathroom
black rings round the tub
bleach bottle empty
in hygiene limbo

All passing on through
the moonlight flitters
and rent evaders
waccy baccy types
and easy layers

A herd of misfits
looking for something
seekers of magic
coming up empty
the light almost gone

A few got away
but some long-stayers
believing good luck
at last would save them
grew roots and died there