This poem won the Sheffield Prize in the Poetry Business Pamphlet Competiton, 2012, judged by Simon Armitage.
A Pint For The Landlord
There should be a pint for the landlord:
no matter that he’s been dead three years.
There should be a clean shirt, one that has all
its buttons. There should be a belt on his jeans.
There should be a barber to trim his sideburns
and if there’s a doctor, let it be one that gives him
more than six months. There should be a wife
who stays, kids who don’t disown him, sheets
on the bed to hide the stains. There should be
a friend with a key, so when it happens,
as it will, as it did, there should be someone
to find him, not leave him five days.
Julie Mellor - poet 