Harris Coverley

PRIVATE ENTERPRISE

a salami up the sleeve
chocolate bars down the sock
a pack of cured and sliced beef in the upper gut
that gap between the ribs
a bag of frozen oven chips in the back trousers might burn
but my best ever was a spatchcock chicken
hidden in a big baggy beanie hat

it’s a question of acquired skill
and not getting caught
that helps too
skirting guards who don’t really give a shit
cameras ‘ere and there

hey, what I can I say: I run a social service
I need cash
the poor bastards on the estate need food
good and cheap
it’s supply and demand
it’s business

i’n’t that what the government wants though?
personal responsibility?
social entrepreneurship?
private enterprise?
up by your bootstraps?
do a job others are unwillin’ to do?

what?
yer want kids goin’ hungry, eh?
it’s all right for some...

you take the risk
and you reap the profits

yeah, I’ve been known to keep some nice stuff for meself
but shit bro, ain’t that my right?
my prerogative as they say?
I got it...

let me tell you:
I’m a walking shopping trolley when I get there
I’m like a celebrity makin’ some big public appearance
the smiles, the smiles...
and the respect

at the end of the day
I’m just doin’ my bit for the local community
I’m like the Robbin’ Hood
or that Jesus guy
or that Mahamma Gandri

you rake it forward
not back
what goes ‘round comes ‘round
involuntary charity
faceless corporate powers
marginal losses
yah-yah-yah-yeah...
yer know the score...

well, d’yer want ‘out?
then keep movin’ on...
I got my regular customers comin’...


Jay Stringer's YouTube video reading of "Private Enterprise":



Subscribe and turn on Notifications for Channel 52.


Harris confesses: "This comes from watching a documentary in which some teenagers had made a real profession of shoplifting food and selling it to the poor people on a council estate. I've also personally known a lot of people who lift. I just wanted to explore that little subculture they have."


HARRIS COVERLEY has verse published or forthcoming in Polu Texni, California Quarterly, Star*Line, Corvus Review, Spank the Carp, Better Than Starbucks, EgoPHobia, Poets' Espresso Review, Once Upon A Crocodile, The Rye Whiskey Review, 5-7-5 Haiku Journal, and many others. He lives in Manchester, England.