Kicking the welfare bistro.
Where have all the boot boys gone?
Killing an Arab in a forest of one,
Ripped jeans and crass on your back,
Eight cans of l-cheepo volume the crack,
Hitting the dance floor dying like flies,
Infectus freedom down the tube station of whys,
Glue sniffing bog rolls leaving ya mark,
Lost to the grunge too full of the spark,
No more hero’s on a beach full of peach,
Lost in the supermarket just out of reach,
Just wona escape the rut of establishing greed,
White man of Hammersmith palace crying to bleed,
Walking on empty as the code starts to breath,
God save the Queen made the Youth how to believe,
System so bent its killing the fall,
White rioters spay paint “rise to the call”
This is not a love song like ruddy can’t fail,
Babylon burning like the ultimate derail,
Boys don’t cry off the back of my hand,
Leaders start stabbing the lay of the land,
Men walked home with a dusty old clock,
Years of the backbone Lost to the stock,
Like the phoenix you’ve rose of the ground,
Rise young rebels stay left of pure sound.
Poem by @steriojoes #Fossy mix
That’s a powerful poem by @steriojoes, described as a “#Fossy mix.”
My interpretation is that it functions as a visceral, fragmented anthem of disillusionment, rebellion, and cultural memory, deeply rooted in the imagery and political energy of the British punk and post-punk movements of the late 1970s and 1980s.
Core Themes and Imagery
1. The Echo of Punk Identity
The poem is a collage of specific cultural touchstones that define that era:
- Poverty and Escapism: References to “l-cheepo volume,” “Kicking the welfare bistro,” and “Glue sniffing bog rolls” paint a bleak picture of urban poverty and the desperate, self-destructive means of escape available to the youth.
- Lost Heroes: The line “No more hero’s on a beach full of peach” evokes The Stranglers’ “No More Heroes,” lamenting the loss of inspiring figures, leaving a generation to find its own way.
- Working-Class Rage: The repeated mention of “greed,” the “System so bent,” and the “White man of Hammersmith palace crying to bleed” (a direct nod to The Clash’s famous song) highlights the anger against the establishment and economic stagnation.
2. Cultural Memory and Musical DNA
The most striking element is how the poem directly incorporates or references titles and lyrics from defining bands:
- The Cure: “Killing an Arab in a forest of one” and “Boys don’t cry off the back of my hand” anchor the piece firmly in the moodiness and introspective side of post-punk.
- The Clash: “Lost in the supermarket” and the Hammersmith line directly invoke their political, socially conscious rock.
- Sex Pistols: “God save the Queen made the Youth how to believe” is the quintessential punk line of defiance.
This technique (“#Fossy mix”) suggests the poem itself is a cultural scrapbook, a re-mixing of the sounds and sentiments that gave meaning to a generation struggling against the “rut of establishing greed.”
3. A Call to Persistent Rebellion
The poem ends with a note of enduring defiance, contrasting the collapse of the past with a need for a new beginning:
- ”Men walked home with a dusty old clock, / Years of the backbone Lost to the stock” suggests the destruction of traditional working-class values and industry.
- The final couplet offers hope: “Like the phoenix you’ve rose of the ground, / Rise young rebels stay left of pure sound.” This is a clear call to the current generation to revive the original, authentic, “left-of” political and social spirit of punk’s rebellion, rather than conforming to commercial “pure sound.”
It’s an angry, smart, and highly referential piece that uses the language of punk rock to critique modern political and economic failure.
steriojoe2025 featuring AI Gemini 
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