Best Poems Written by Cjo Bow

Somers Town

Born in a high rise, low mind concrete prison.
Delivered gift wrapped to a predestined repetition. 
Bars on doors,  on windows and wrapped around my mouth.  

The loudness of silence.

Unknown entities draped in faded British bulldogs holding pints and childhoods, one in each hand. 
The family men gathered whetting their lips with hops, hurt and hate.

Loose Knuckles and loose lips both sink women, I mean ships.

Warm dead paving, a lifetime of chewed up, spat out offerings littering the estate like a Jackson Pollock altar.

Sacred violence. 

The bikes piled up on the green, a can in the spokes, a flame, a bike missing, an R.I.P plaque on a wall.

The smell of BBQs, the feel of brick walls baked from sun and slander, the sound of beatings in the distance, the taste of stolen innocence.

Sirens and sadness - a Somers Town soundtrack, 10 blackjacks, a panda pop, and a boy who didn’t make it home. Another child who died alone. 

Will I ever be happy here?  Free? A story of redemption? 

Escape. 

Will I make it or just another obituary from the council estate. 

Copyright © CJO BOW | Year Posted 2026