Spectator poems
From the magazine

Career Options

Polly Walshe
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 22 February 2025
issue 22 February 2025

Nice to get rid of yourself in a few words,
Not to think any further or say any more.
Nice to conceal in a strange town,

To say, I am this, I am that, to use words
That are fixed and ripe to ignore.
Nice to dispose in a few words.

Who wants to live in the woods where words
Are unclear, their meanings too tall?
Nice to conceal in a strange town.

Certain things won’t be known, risky words
Of your own, if you deny them. All in all,
It’s nice to dispose in a few words.

But who will you be if you live within words,
Within worlds, not your own? Are you sure
Your life will be real in a strange town?

Can you properly say, I commit to this town,
All its tedious works? Can you swear
That it’s nice to get crushed by a few words,
Nice to congeal in a strange town?