Skip to main content
Clare Pollard - Yarl’s Wood
Edited by JODY PORTER

Yarl’s Wood
Clare Pollard

You want a minute of not being
wired to watch out? A tray with tea,
the children playing: hushed, happy?
The touch of kind hands, family;
a little money, security?
             Why not come to Yarl’s Wood
             to be taken care of?

We know that you’re restrained,
a modest housewife in her burka,
but the dark is wet with torture
and you’re emptied out by fear -
brave the plane, the gate, the wait,
             get yourself sent to Yarl’s Wood
             to be taken care of.

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

21st Century Poetry / 6 August 2025
6 August 2025

by Clare Evans

Attila the Stockbroker Diary / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025

Warming up for his Durham gig, the bard pays attention to the niceties of language

21st Century Poetry / 9 July 2025
9 July 2025

by Widad Nabi