Skip to main content
Four poems by Paul Birtill
Well Versed is edited by JODY PORTER

Unemployed

Nobody had any money in those days,
we got by borrowing of each other's giro.
Then someone mentioned in the pub that
you got fifty pounds cash if you donated
your body to medical science after death,
and a whole gang of us trooped up to the
medical school to enquire. 'We've stopped
doing that now' we were told. Too many people
were registering in Liverpool. 'Have you thought
about joining the army?' said the woman with a
wry smile on her face.



The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
who we are
Poetry Review / 5 December 2025
5 December 2025

ANDY CROFT welcomes the publication of an anthology of recent poems published by the Morning Star, and hopes it becomes an annual event

ALEXANDER FOOTE
Features / 24 September 2025
24 September 2025

TONY FOX invites readers to come and hear the story of the remarkable Liverpudlian International Brigader Alexander Foote

21st Century Poetry / 9 July 2025
9 July 2025

by Widad Nabi

21st Century Poetry / 25 June 2025
25 June 2025

By Alexis Lykiard