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JAMIE BRITTON recommends that we all buy at least two copies of a remarkable book of poems
We made our homes in the belly of the Beast
The Beast that devoured our ancestors
and spat them out on the other side of the globe
that stole our gold and rubber
our skills and knowledge
our art and music, our history.
It gorged, and fattened itself
dressed in unmissable finery
and declared itself proudly
The Empire
seeing its greatness in our puzzled eyes
as we stared up the barrel of a gun
from all corners of the earth.
Its guns were needed still (we were told)
to protect us from the socialists and communists
Capitalism, our enslaver for centuries
would liberate us one day.
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