The Ladder

Yesterday
I bought a ladder,

Today
I paint it blue.

Onlookers
jostle to crowd around,

For
of course they want one too.  

‘This
ladder is all that you need’, we’re told;

The
rhetoric aimed to impress.

‘Step
up and embrace opportunity,  

The
rungs of ambition your route to success’.  

Like
Jack with his beanstalk,

It’s
all in the climb.

Social
mobility,

The
promise this time.

Yet,
ladders can rock and ladders can fall,

They
prove dangerous to those underneath.

To
ascend safely might mean one goes-it-alone,

That,
if the ladder’s not pulled out of reach.

And…
where’s there’s a ladder,

There’s
sometimes a snake.

In
this case . . . .

****

I wrote this short piece in response to the rumour that one of the political
parties in Britain, in an attempt at a re-brand as the ‘workers’ party’, are
considering replacing their tree logo with a ladder (#partyoftheladder !!!).