Bland On Bland – For Hire

The theme for this week’s JVG Radio Method poem is “For Hire”

Ed Bates on the guitar this week

Play this poem directly in your browser! Just click the “play” button below:
[audio:JVG_Poem20100502.mp3]

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For Hire

Natalie, I met in South Melbourne
At the firm, where we both used to work
I earned my crust changing light globes
She, in accounts, as a clerk

We became good mates – good mates, nothing more
In the manner of sister and brother
She entrusted me with her secrets
Things she could share with no other

By night she abandoned the ledger
Unbeknown to her family and friends
Worked as a high class escort
By appointment and only top end

She was frank when discussing her motives
Money – and what she could earn
She made three times as much in one evening
As she did, in a week, at the firm

She was clear in her objectives
And that you had to admire
To make enough money to pay off her flat
Then, no question, retire

When her secret was finally uncovered
It unleashed unimaginable hurt
Disowned by her family, a leper, disgraced
Viewed and treated as dirt

Whereas Ken, whom I sat with at state school
There was never the slightest pretence
Beauty he measured in material worth
Love, in dollars and cents

He saw himself as a wheeler and dealer
Left school with high expectations
Sadly, his pitifully meagre talents
Failed to match his grandiose aspirations

And then he met Cassie, light of his life
Her assets more than substantial
He coldly described her as “No oil painting”
The attraction, purely financial

They married, two kids, two houses, a yacht
Betrayal at the very least
Natalie, banished, condemned as a whore
While Ken was blessed by a priest

The method may differ but they walked the same road
One lauded, the other detested
Their choices no different – bodies for hire
Although Ken would term it invested

One way or another, we all hock our arses
At the office, down the aisle or the streets
Politicians for votes, except in the west
Where they’re too busy sniffing the seats

Footballers, actors, celebrities, journalists
The trainer, the jockey, the horse
Talk Back Tzars and their “Cash for comment”
Indignantly rejected of course

Now I can’t talk for Ed – He can’t talk for himself!
But I would never be part of a rort
My words are not, repeat, not for hire
But for a price they could probably be bought

© Copyright 2010 Ian Bland