The Holding Pen

by Rita Ann Higgins

When did we become
so filled with anxiety and fear
at the prospect of a holiday in the sun
or a visit to friends abroad?

It’s your fault if you’re early
it’s your fault if you’re late
it’s your fault if you’re old

Its written on your boarding card
‘you are to blame, do the walk of shame’
it’s slow and it’s hot, it’s a crawl and it’s not.
Rest easy, we will manage you.
We will triage you
steel barriers, steel gates,
stay within fences, stay in.
We’ll put you in the holding-pen.
(Aka the welfare zone)

You are our lab-rats
when we say run, you rat run
when we say wait at the gate,
you say, how high?
When we say wait in the holding pen
you wait, we win.
Queue up and shut up.
We are not the housing department
but we will put up a bad-weather cover
on the pen.

It’s your fault if you have kids and no husband
It’s your fault if you are in a wheelchair.
It’s your fault if you have autism.

Achtung: this is your airport
We will triage you to within an inch of your life.
Long haul with luggage
we’ll put you in the pen
Short haul with luggage
we’ll put you in the pen.

Bring proof, bring toilet paper
the proof has to go through
the bad weather-roof.
Reams of print-outs to prove
you have a flight booked
and you’re not just a tire kicker
here for the three-star holding-pen
(aka the Welfare Zone).

If you have a bag and a half
on the short haul
to drop in the bag-hole
arrive often but not too early.
If you have two and a half bags
on the long haul
to drop in the bag-hole
arrive the day before
but not before the witching hour.

Look what we are doing for you,
we’re giving you a steel pen
Gates and barriers
we’ll guide you
we’ll divide you
we’ll corral you
we’ll steer you in.
All you have to do it queue.
We’d do it for cattle
we’d do it for sheep
we’d do it for pigs
why wouldn’t we do it for you?
View it as a rat run
Get in.

Photo: Johnny Void

It Suits a Narrative

by Rita Ann Higgins

It suits a narrative of the 'big, bad state
and the 'big bad religious congregations',
- Mary Higgins, CEO of Caranua
The Irish Times, March 20th 2017.

Some applicants will never be happy
and grievances suit a narrative,
of the big bad church
and the big bad state
and the big bad building
with the big bad gate.

We ration our compassion,
while all ye say suits a narrative
of the big bad state.

We ration our compassion
but we'll give you a couch.
We ration our compassion
but we'll give you new windows.

We are the keepers
of the churches’ money.
As keepers we divvy and we pay
but not to you directly, we won't give you money
but we 'll give you new teeth
a new radiator, a brand new funeral.
What more could you ask for?

It’s not that we want your pain
to be everlasting,
but by the same token
it suits a narrative for ye
to come on national radio and complain
and say we have no compassion.

We have oodles of it,
but we ration our compassion.
If we give you stuff without humiliating you
it will be no fun at all.

So fill out that form and then fill another
and another and another
and one for your sister
and one for your brother
and while you’re at it
fill one out for your mother.

Don't listen to the guy who said,
criminal records are given out
like holy communion to people in institutions.
We all know he stole an apple
otherwise why would he have been there?

Some applicants will never be happy
and its suits a narrative,
of the big bad church
and the big bad state
and the big bad building
with the big bad gate.

Note: Survivors of institutional child abuse in Ireland have been told that the state organisation tasked with supporting their health, housing and other needs is to wind down from 1 August 2018. 

This poem was first published in Reading the Future: New Writing from Ireland: Celebrating 250 Years of Hodges Figgis.

They Trespass Against Us

by Rita Ann Higgins

The memo said,
get them out of that bed,
Make Lazarus out of the lot of them.
By the head or the knee,
a puck in the back,
a knuckle in the nuts,
a sweeping ankle throw,
but no bruises.
They trespass against us.

Minimum force at all times,
except at tea times,
give them nothing, no tea, no ham,
give them spam.
They trespass against us.

Unwilling or unable
get them out of that bed.
Fed or unfed get them out of that bed,
but no bruises. Infirm or inform
who cares if they’re warm?
They trespass against us.

They are blocking our beds
get them out on their heads
They trespass against us.

Memo meant
for senior management eyes only.
Written by their legal team,
paid to be mean, paid but not seen.
They trespass against us.