STREETBATTLE
©Trev Teasdel Coventry January 1980
©Trev Teasdel Coventry January 1980
Divert the traffic, clear the streets.
The slogan’s written, the plan’s complete.
Placards painted, the people out,
With raging passions to chant and shout.
Clear the streets, move that car.
Board the windows of shop and bar.
Heed the word, heed the call
No one’s safe around here at all.
Police on horseback, truncheon toting
Streets are hunched in mute foreboding.
Helicopters circle low, co-ordinate via radio.
Escorts ready, formations planned,
Handcuffs and batons close to hand.
Heed the word, heed the call
No one’s safe around here at all.
A route-march chosen, a street plan open
Spearhead banners, poison poking.
An immigrant area – it goes unspoken.
Corner shop window will soon be broken.
Hymns to Hitler, dreams of greatness
A ghost of the past that will not rest.
Heed the word, heed the call
No one’s safe around here at all.
A shield of police encircle marchers,
A sudden left turn at the railway arches.
Counter demo led long another route
but soon get wise then off they shoot.
A sudden shower, sticks and stones hurled
A sudden left turn at the railway arches.
Counter demo led long another route
but soon get wise then off they shoot.
A sudden shower, sticks and stones hurled
Cops ‘neath viziers quickly curled.
Burning issues of the age
Nominate the street their stage.
A confrontation, quick the cameras,
Inform headquarters, fetch the ambulance
Effect plan b, put in operation
‘If this thing spreads, god help the nation’
Release the gas, fire the blanks
‘Action, action, disperse their ranks’
Heed the word, heed the call,
No one’s safe around here at all.
Now the cameras pan, the chanters all join hands
The battle in the streets obeyed no-one’s plans.
An ambulance left, a police car burned
All agreed there were lessons’ to be learnt
Blood in puddles, mud in wounds,
A peak-capped man cried ‘Damn them goons’
Burning issues of the age
Nominate the street their stage.
Clear the debris in the streets
Assess the damage done to property
Compile statistics on loss of trade
‘Stop press, fresh outbreak, city arcade’
Camera crews, trigger happy
Edit that newsreel, make it snappy.
Divert attention from real issues
Package ‘specially for the news.
Heed the word, heed the call
Jackboot’s marching on us all.
……………
Written in Coventry 1980 after witnessing an anti National Front rally and watching a documentary on it. I was writing it while watching the documentary playing a run down of minor chords. I’ve used this as a performance poem over the years and it appeared in my first poetry chapbook The Escaped Poet in 1984.
Streetbattle by Trev Teasdel – cassette demo 1980.
Same version but on Soundclick https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14669453