1. Sentenced to Four
Years
for Aggravated
Assault
By Trevor Maynard
From his collection
KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON
Willowdown Books, 2012
ISBN 978-1480052499

2. Plain steps
Grey concrete smooth polished to look
Like marble
But they are not; nothing in this
courtroom is real

3. I came here a Free Man
Under licence and bonded high, but
free all the same
I chose to face my accusers
Had I have known the theatre was so
drab
I would not have bothered
Reporters, local papers and one
National
But a freelance, a local stringer
So no coverage guaranteed, where,
where
Is the caring, the recognition, the
notoriety
Don’t they know, I mean something!

4. How do you plead?
I don’t plead at all, not to this rabble
Not to this lack of peers
Not to this arbitrary judicial show
He, the alleged victim
Was a bailiff, a debt collector, a
legalized thief
He, the alleged victim
Was a bully, a sociopath, a scumbag

5. He bled out from the neck

6. No wigs and no gowns
No wooden pews, only new, plastic
coated
Soft from reconstituted foam, benches
Carpet of synthetic wool, patterned to
hide the dirt
And not even a Judge; Three
Magistrates
One blind, one deaf, one mute
Local worthies, do-gooders, busy-
bodies
There is a point to this!
There was a point to this, I tell them

7. You can’t just keep on pushing

8. You just can’t keep coming after me

9. You took my job
You took my wife
You took my house
You can’t just take and expect no
reaction in return
You? They?
They say, thinking of lunch
Looking to the clerk for permission
The one with the actual job here

10. He, the alleged victim
Has a wife, a house too, has a kid
Like the one I could have had
Listen to me
Listen to me
We can’t let society treat us this way
There will be explosions, further fury
We can’t let society be so unfair

11. Someone, listen

12. Someone
Plain steps, not even marble

13. Born the year Kennedy was shot, Trevor
Maynard celebrated his 38th Birthday the
day the Twin Towers were hit. His first
collection of poems LOVE, DEATH and THE
WAR on TERROR was published 2009 with
his new collection KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON
published in 2012. He has the edited two
anthologies of poetry garnered from new
media, social and professional networking,
THE POETIC BOND and THE POETIC BOND II,
and manages the LinkedIN Group “POETRY,
REVIEW and DISCUSS”. Trevor is a Drama
graduate from Royal Holloway with ten plays
professionally produced and a collection of
one act plays FOUR TRUTHS. The above are
all available on amazon and elsewhere. He is
currently putting together THE POETIC BOND
III, and accepting submissions until 30 June
2013. His recently performed at RAW
POETRY in London.