Terry Flood Poet Narrative

Notes About The Poem

The Outlaw Ethel Slater

This is the story of Ethel Slater
An anarchistic agitator 
She met her end in feigned humility
At a reinforced facility

Ethel, no more golden hearted
Let me tell you how that started
And let me tell you how it went
When she took on the government

                 *

Her basic pension she would eke
But she was old and very weak
She needed food and needed heat
But sometimes it was heat or eat

At least for two months every year
She could live with greater cheer
A fuel allowance each Noel
Meant she could heat and eat as well

Although not much, at least it meant
She might still be around at lent
But then a vote… a glitch in time
So, late in life, she took to crime

A brand new sheriff came to town
His mission?.. Put the people down
He hatched a plan with Robber Reeves
But kept their secret up their sleeves

And when they won the public vote
An awful law was quickly wrote
His name was Starmer and he swore
The old could freeze forevermore

The Christmas fuel allowance
Wasn’t worth the cash it cost
The sheriff’s men kept schtum
About the lives that would be lost

But Ethel Slater soon rebelled
And tried to warm one room
A duvet and an armchair
Were her glimmer in the gloom

Alas she sat too close
And when the heater spat a spark
Her neighbours, through her window
Saw the flames light up the dark

Sheriff Starmer sent the cops
To find poor Ethel choking
Her skin was burned and so they charged her
with the crime of smoking

Through blackened lips she mumbled,
“But my meagre life is hell.”
So Starmer said, “She’s Far-right too,
Just sling her in a cell!”

                 *

But lo! Her cell was warm
She got three meals each day as well
She didn’t seem upset 
As far as anyone could tell 

One day she called a guard
And mentioned Starmer’s squinty eyes
She laughed out loud when Starmer said
“She’ll stay there till she dies!”

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thriveni c mysore September 3, 2024 at 9:21 PM brilliant dear poet. happy writing. Terry Flood September 4, 2024 at 4:28 AM Thanks TCM. Glad you enjoyed.

Gershon Wolf September 3, 2024 at 7:58 PM Reminiscent of 'Soapy,' by O'Henry. Ever read it. It's a cute story, like your poem. Terry Flood September 4, 2024 at 4:27 AM Literally just read it due to your recommendation. Enjoyed. Often thought about short stories but I struggle to keep a POEM short…. Any short story I wrote would be like War and Peace 2 ;-)

Ilene Bauer September 3, 2024 at 5:13 PM terry - i don't know how you think these stories up, but i hope you never stop doing so! anyone who can rhyme like you do and tell a tale while doing so deserves the utmost admiration (and has it from me!)... Terry Flood September 4, 2024 at 4:24 AM Alas, our new government has got it in for the people. All except the unions who clearly had prior secret agreement with the Labour Party. To steal pensioner’s heating allowance while paying yet more to vastly overpaid train drivers is simply immoral. Now he’s banning smoking… and he has the cheek to call anyone who disagrees with him ‘Far-right’. As you can see… he pretty well wrote this for me.