Member Poem

Shivering and bowed

She turns from choked relief

At the whirring cashpoint sound

of banknotes readied for dispense

Of one square-package meal

Till next state-appointed day.

To iced shudder.

The shark assistant snakes

through litter-gravelled square,

Readying to seize

hard-waited remnants of relief,

and mockingly condemn

to the pained and choiceless choices

of sagging estate time.