Shakespearean Sonnet Competition: Sonnet 666

In the first of our Shakespearean Sonnet competition winners, Uschi Gatward reappropriates Sonnet 66 for the modern economy. All winners will receive a copy of Litro #133: Shakespeare, and a copy of Ben Crystal’s book Shakespeare on Toast.
Photo by David Shankbone (copied from Flickr)
Photo by David Shankbone (copied from Flickr)

Tir’d with all these, for restful death I cry —
As, to behold a rising housing bubble
And modest earners face redundancy
And those that caus’d it see their profits double
And individual freedoms compromis’d
And MPs with their fingers in the till
And fit-for-purpose unions demoniz’d
And ‘fit for work’ a sentence that can kill
And art made tongue-tied by austerity
And London’s Living Wage evaded quite
And food banks running at capacity
And Talha Ahsan held by May and might:
Tir’d with all these, from these I would be gone
Save, if I die, the bastards will have won.

Uschi Gatward

About Uschi Gatward

Uschi Gatward was born in East London and lives there now. She has been shortlisted for the Asham Award and the Bristol Short Story Prize. Her story 'Pink Lemonade' is in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology (vol 6) published October 2013. She is currently a guest blogger for Mslexia .

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