as new words bleed from streets
young blood sticks
caught up in catch-phrases
youth in exile
in pockets of language
islanded and outlawed
words failing
armed and aimless
shrink-wrapped
by TV terrorisms
sold into apprenticeships
for emptiness
while schools are dragged screaming
back to schooling
dialogues are dawning
turning scribbles of rage
into dictionaries of freedom.
© Paul Taylor 2005
Southwark Hour programme 2: spontaneous poem
This reflects on a discussion about the way that fads of street language among young people, while in some ways enriching language, could also be part of a process of narrowing of thought and expression, a shutting-off of anything seen as not "cool".
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