Boys from Brisco Mount
were not expected
to be high achievers,
although the brightest
might attend Tech College
and aspire to be fitters
at the biscuit factory.
According to general opinion,
we came from a long line
of lower-class no-hopers
and were scheduled,
as a matter of course,
to keep with this tradition.
A legend concerning
a hapless native
caught defiling
a helpless ruminant
led to us all
being labelled
with the same tag
and added
to the consensus
of inbred ne’er-do-wells.
Factory grime
was the destiny
of most of us
as we left
the school gates
for the final time,
which was a better deal
than previous generations,
whose destiny
was slum housing,
trench warfare
and hunger marches.
were not expected
to be high achievers,
although the brightest
might attend Tech College
and aspire to be fitters
at the biscuit factory.
According to general opinion,
we came from a long line
of lower-class no-hopers
and were scheduled,
as a matter of course,
to keep with this tradition.
A legend concerning
a hapless native
caught defiling
a helpless ruminant
led to us all
being labelled
with the same tag
and added
to the consensus
of inbred ne’er-do-wells.
Factory grime
was the destiny
of most of us
as we left
the school gates
for the final time,
which was a better deal
than previous generations,
whose destiny
was slum housing,
trench warfare
and hunger marches.
