Skip to main content
Patrick Lodge - The Respectable Working Class
Well Versed is edited by Jody Porter

The Respectable Working Class
Patrick Lodge

Week in, week out, I give my labour for
next to nowt. I’ve doffed my cap threadbare;
tugged my forelock so fierce
my hairline recedes from the back.

I’ve seemed grateful for mistress’s
sawdust buns, for master’s leaking roof
above my head, under which I wake
each sun-up, practicing my yokel grin.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
21st Century Poetry / 22 July 2026
22 July 2026

by Mike Jenkins

21st Century Poetry / 8 July 2026
8 July 2026

by Rosie Jackson

ALEXANDER FOOTE
Features / 24 September 2025
24 September 2025

TONY FOX invites readers to come and hear the story of the remarkable Liverpudlian International Brigader Alexander Foote